Through the Darkness
by EclipseWithTheMorphs
Summary: As the war between Sonic and Eclipse goes on, more people join into the fight. However, they are not the only thing that is new. A force that even the gods of Mobius are worried about is on the rise, and in order to stop it, the gods will have to eliminate all new competition for both Sonic and Eclipse. What will happen when gods enter the fray? Starring your OCs!
1. Prelude to Disaster

**Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first chapter of my new story starring your characters! Now, in order to have your character in this story, go to a story in my account under the name of this plus Recruitment. Everything you need is right there. Now, disclaimer!**

**Eclipse: E.w.t.M. does not in any way own Sonic the Hedgehog. He only owns his OCs. Each other OC in this story belong to their rightful owners.  
**

**Now, let's get this started!  
**

Through the Darkness

Prelude to Disaster

Setting: The Eclipsed Lands

Time: 14:25

A grand tower sits at the north side of the Eclipsed Lands. From the tower's top floor watch cold eyes, watching over training below. The door behind him opens. In comes a gray anthropomorphic hedgehog, with eyes ablaze with life - and hatred.

The cold eyes continue staring as he speaks. "Tell me, No-Face. Is Sonic currently my only threat?" No-Face, the gray hedgehog, says, "Currently, yes. But I have heard reports of other people rising to fight you. Some, however, seem to be willing to help your cause, and some are just... there."

The grey eyes, soulless, glare at the hedgehog now. "Tell me. Do you know anything about these people?"

No-Face frowns. "Nothing is known about them. I am sorry." The grey-eyed one smirks. "No matter. You may leave."

As No-Face leaves, the grey eyes flit back to the training as the owner ponders.

'It doesn't matter if I don't know who they are or not. Eventually, I will, and eventually, they will all be mine. Sworn on the Eclipsed Oath, if my name isn't...'

Then, smirking, he looks up and says...

"Eclipse."

\/

Setting: Rebellion Base Camp 5

Time: 14:30

Tents are strewn across an area. One of them has a blue hedgehog sitting in it, waiting for someone.

That someone, a two-tailed fox, comes into the tent. Emerald eyes track the fox. "Tails, I need you to tell me something. Could Eclipse be my only problem?"

Tails, the fox, answers, "I don't think so, Sonic. I've heard that other people are deciding to get involved in the fight - whether to help us, Eclipse or themselves."

The blue one, known as Sonic, thinks for a moment. "Thanks, bud. I need some time to think about this."

Once Tails leaves the tent, Sonic grows worried. 'As long as I don't know what's going to happen with them, we have to be cautious. We have no idea what could happen with any of them."

Sonic then gets up and decides to run off his worries.

\/

Setting: Unknown

Time: Unknown

A dark void is all that can be seen. A single entity is visible, made completely out of water.

"Chaos..." A voice rings out in the void. The water being, Chaos, responds through telepathy, "What do you want of me?"

A single bright green reptilian eye appears and speaks, "The balance of the mortal war is shifting. More people are coming into the fight. But this is all a plan. A single being is being the puppet master - waiting for the right time to strike. We, as the gods of the world, must not allow this to happen."

Chaos, understanding, nods, then disappears from the void. Soon, the eye disappears as well.

It was as if nothing was there in the first place.

**And that was the first "chapter" of Through the Darkness! The reason this story is rated as such is for reasons coming in later chapters. But please do leave reviews criticizing me and praising me so that I know how to improve. Thanks!  
**

**~Eclipse  
**


	2. Enter the Sonic Heroes

**Sorry for the wait, guys, but the first real chapter is here! In this, 3 of the submitted hero OCs will debut. I would, however, like to thank everyone for reviewing, including Lord Kelvin. Now, disclaimer!**

**Eclipse: Eclipse with the Morphs does not own anyone in this story except for his OCs. Sonic and co. belong to SEGA, and all other OCs belong to their respective owners.  
**

**And now, without further ado, enjoy!  
**

\/**  
**

Enter the Sonic Heroes

My name is G the Komodo Dragon. Not really, but everyone calls me that. Or rather, most everyone. You might be wondering what I'm doing, talking to you. Well, let's start from the beginning.

About a month or so ago, I and a couple of friends heard about a war going on between Sonic, the legendary blue blur, and some villain named Eclipse. I decided that, hey, it's interesting enough, so I got some information on where Sonic was and decided to start heading there.

Along the way, though, I ran into some other people that had the same idea. I met Swamp the Fox, who appears to be a bit cocky, wanting me to call him Captain Swamp. Therefore, I do. He's a bit like me - he has skills in using a cutlass. I have skills in using guns. All of them. See, it appears that I only have rifles, but they can shape-shift into anything I want.

I also met a wolf named Alicia. She's really quite nice, and she's a bit like an angel. I mean, she has the wings and all. Not only that, she can make a light sword appear whenever she wants. So we're all prepared with weapons, just in case anything happens that needs us to use them.

After a day or so of traveling, we finally reached our destination - Rebellion Base Camp 5. Some people in there looked at us strangely. Who were we to just wander in randomly. Eventually, when we got to what I thought was the center of the camp, I spoke up.

"You might be wondering what we're all doing here. We've decided, after hearing about the war, to help you. Does anybody know where Sonic the Hedgehog is, then?" The answer came cockily, like the Sonic I and everyone knows.

"Right here."

\/

This is Captain Swamp speaking to ya now! If you didn't hear from G, though you probably did, I met up with him while he was traveling to the Sonic Team's base, or rather one of them. You probably didn't hear, however, what I can do besides wield a sword. I was born with the natural ability to manipulate almost every metal known on the face of the planet, minus a couple of choices.

Anyways, after G and Sonic talked a bit about joining his team, he invited us into his little tent thing and started a little explanation.

"As you have probably heard, the person that's waging war is named Eclipse. You probably don't know too much about him, though, so let me explain. Eclipse has the ability to manipulate light and darkness to his will, as well as being able to change to position of the sun and moon, giving him his name. At one point, it might be a sunny bright day, but then it gets as dark as night because of him."

"Eclipse was originally a supernatural being called Ragnarok. However, because of Dr. Eggman, he was given a substantial form. With the Chaos Emeralds, he can create other emeralds that he calls Malice Emeralds. In each of these emeralds holds the power to control a certain element. Red controls fire, yellow controls thunder, green controls wind, light blue controls ice, dark blue controls water, grey controls light and black, from the purple Chaos Emerald, controls darkness."

"Eclipse doesn't need the grey and black emeralds - they simply enhance his power. But that's not all that he can do. Far from that, actually. Although Eclipse is a deity, he's also a geneticist. He likes toying with the DNA of other people. Through some sort of sorcery, a majority of his minions are actually transformed individual humans, changed against their will. There's no telling what they are - the only way you'll find out is if they die. They're not the only ones tested on, though."

"Eclipse himself tests his serums and potions on himself to make sure they work. Some days, he's more powerful than others. There is one more thing, though. Don't go into the-"

Just then, a G.U.N. soldier cried out, "Invasion!"

/\

**Alright, sorry if this took a while. I haven't really worked on it. As always, criticism is appreciated, as well as praise. Credit goes where it's due, but sorry if I didn't get the personalities right, if there was any at all. It was a simple intro to the first heroes. Anyways, see ya in the next chapter!  
****  
~Eclipse**


	3. Enter the Lone Wolves

**Hello again for another chapter of Through the Darkness! In the last chapter, the heroes were introduced, so now it's the anti-heroes' time! First of all, disclaimer.**

**Eclipse: Eclipse with the Morphs does not own any characters in the story except for his OCs. All respectful OCs belong to their owners, and Sonic and Co. belong to SEGA.  
**

**Sonic: Good news you got that right.  
**

**Hey, what are you doing in the authors note? Get outta here!  
**

Enter the Lone Wolves

\/

The Eclipsed Lands. Constantly under an eclipse, day in and day out, because of their namesake. The plants all died once the Eclipsed came. No one knows why, except scientists believe it's just because of the eclipse that's always current.

Now, you might not know who I am. My name is Marx. Marx the Cat. I've heard about a war going on recently, but I paid no heed to Sonic or Eclipse. I'm on my own, with my friend Child (her real name is Sarah, but I just call her that), a chao named Ves and a new friend acquired along the way. I don't remember how long ago me and Child met. We've just stuck together.

The reason we're getting involved is simple - Sonic's getting cliched, and Eclipse... well, I have no idea who he really is. Child is fine, though. Surprisingly, for her upbeat nature, she's loyal and will stick close to me. Don't get me wrong, she's 6 years younger than me - I'm 16, by the way - but she's like family to me. The only real family I had.

Apparently, someone had the same idea as us with Sonic and Eclipse. While we were traveling along, we ran into a person called Novas. No idea what he is, but I think he's a hedgehog. He seems to be angry most of the time, but we eventually convinced him to come along with us. He could take out his anger on both Sonic and Eclipse. We made friends, and even though he's angry all the time, Child appears to have some sort of calming effect on him.

But of course, even we couldn't stay out of the way without some action.

\/

I don't think you need an introduction. I'm Novas. You know, the guy Marx was talking about earlier. And don't forget it either. Where Marx left off, we were traveling through a forest when all of a sudden, *gasp*, an Eggman robot. I haven't seen those in about a year. Sarcasm alert. Before I could blast it into bits though, a fist - a watery fist, none the less - came out and went straight through it. Gee, bet you can't guess who this was can you?

It was Chaos, just in case you were really wondering. I mean, who else has watery, well, everything, around here? Even still, I was confused why he was here, before going back to being myself.

"What are you doing here, Chaos? If your looking for a fight, you'll have to go through me, first." Surprisingly, though, he/it talked.

"I'm not here to stop you. In fact, I'm here to do the exact opposite."

"And what would that be?" Marx questioned the big blob of... whatever.

"I am here to help you fight against Sonic as well as Eclipse." Now this got me really confused.

"Why not choose one or the other? Sonic defeated you who knows how many years ago, and you don't even know Eclipse."

"Both Sonic and Eclipse pose a danger to this world. If you let me explain, I will." I decided to just be quiet and see what the blob had to say.

"If you don't know, both Sonic and Eclipse are getting help from other Mobians. However, neither of them are expecting a thing from any other source." Chaos somehow made an image of a single unidentified Mobian appear.

"There is a master behind all this - a controller that has planned this out like a game of chess. Everyone is the pawn, and it is both the king and queen. Even I as the god of destruction do not know it, but what I do know is that it's waiting for Sonic and Eclipse to tear themselves apart."

"Even if one or the other wins, they will be so weakened that they will not be able to stop it. It will take over the world, and do what it sees fit with it. That is why I come to you - you need to stop both Sonic and Eclipse and make it so that this puppet master pulls the strings no longer." Chaos then pointed to a random location. "Over there is a base camp in which Sonic is residing. Eclipsed forces are preparing to attack. In the chaos, go in and take down as many people as you can. If one of you is injured, finish whatever fight you are in, take the injured one and leave immediately. Eclipse will not care if you die or if he takes you."

Chaos disappeared after that, saying only these words: "Do not lose hope. You are the only ones that can defeat this controller."

After walking in the direction that Chaos pointed us, we came across one of Sonic's base camps. As he said, the Eclipsed were already there fighting. Finally, after all this time, we were going to get some action.

\/

A single being sits in a lone room. An orb rests in front of it, showing the events happening at the camp. The being smirks. All is going according to it's plan. It doesn't matter if Chaos himself tries to stop the events to come - even he will fail. The being reflects on past mistakes - being preemptive, underestimating not only Sonic's, but also Shadow's and Silver's ability. The being can't wait to get it's hands on the foolish blue rat that once opposed it.

The being splits into 2 - one male, one female. Soon, it would have to recreate the project. The takeover of this world will come soon enough.

/\

**And that's it for Chapter 2! Credit where it's due for the OCs, and gasp mysterious being. I wonder if this is the one that Chaos talked about? *wink* Anyways, see you in the next chapter, where the villains come. Have a good day/night!**


	4. Enter the Eclipse

**Hello again for another chapter of Through the Darkness! Man, I'm trying to shovel out as many of these as I can. Disclaimer, activate!**

**Eclipse: Eclipse with the Morphs owns only his OCs, Sonic and Co owned by SEGA, other OCs go to rightful owners... do I really have to do this every time?**

**Yeah, it's just a little so-you-know. Also, I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed throughout the last few chapters. Now it's time for the villains!**

* * *

Enter the Eclipse

\/

My name is Dagger. Not my real name, but you don't need to know that. If you find out somehow and tell someone, you're going down. I'm a Kitsune, like Tails. But wait, Mr. Dagger, Tails is a fox! Wrong. Foxes don't come with 2 tails. Kitsunes do. Getting off topic, though. My powers, well, they'll come in time. Not right now, though.

You must have heard of the big war going on, right? If you haven't, where have you been? You might be wondering what side I'm on, then. Short and simple - Eclipse. Why? Because he's not too cliched. Only reason he started this war is because Blue Guy didn't let him do what he wanted with the world.

I'm not alone with my ideals, though. I met a bat-guy named Marcus, but he wanted me to call him The Count. Alright, I could deal with that. Then he called me a peasant. Alright, he asked for it. After a little quarrel, though, we let bygones be bygones and both headed on our way.

Even then, we found a robot guy that called himself Dread. Originally, he was on his own and wanted to just cause some chaos, but after some reasoning - "Eclipse will be able to give you whatever you want if you just help him get rid of Sonic," - he decided to come along. He's a pretty cool robot, really calm and all. We just all talked about ourselves until we got to where we needed to go: the Eclipsed Lands.

This place really looked like a big grey desert. All the life was pretty much extracted from the place once Eclipse came. Strange, taking his goal is something different than this. The real prominent feature, though, was the big dang spire in the middle.

It reached up above the clouds - couldn't see the top of it, especially since there was an eclipse going on - like there always was. Not only was it huge, though, it was pretty bulky, and from a top-down view, you might not even see it. What I could see before it went into the clouds was that the top was colored the same way as the ground. If it's the same with the top of each segment, it would blend in perfectly. Otherwise, it was a black and white mixture.

Throughout the walk to the tower, we remained silent. We didn't want anybody getting the wrong ideas. Once we got to the entrance of the spire, we waited. Then, the star of the war fell upon us - literally.

\/

It's about time that fox named Dagger handed it over to me. My name is Marcus, The Count. By the sound of me, I would sound like a vampire. My powers make it even more so. But you don't need to know yet, peasants. It was high time that we actually spoke with Eclipse, the Harbinger of Darkness.

"From what I heard of by No-Face, one of my loyal assistants, you have come to aid me in the fight against Sonic. I would talk inside, but warriors are training right now, so let's make this secret. You know a lot about Sonic, most likely, but not about me, so let me explain."

"I am Eclipse, obviously, and I was the one that started this war. Many generic villains want to take over or destroy the world, right? So why am I any different? Simple. I actually want to save the world."

"Both human and Mobian technologies have advanced, and a majority of the world is populated. Day after day, the world is continually becoming more and more unstable to support life. Yet even still, humans continue to shovel out the pollution and destroy what would get rid of it. If this war is won, the entire world will be saved. Humans and Mobians alike will be no more. Machines will become useless. The world will be pure nature."

"Powers are meaningless at the moment. You will most likely see soon enough what I can do. But right now, I have something that is quite important." Eclipse pulled out a little map thing and pointed to a dot on there. "This is the location of one of Sonic's base camps. I am hoping to obliterate it once my warriors finish gearing up. Will you go into the camp and help defeat the resistance?"

He didn't need to wait long for an answer. We all nodded. He smiled, but it didn't seem to be a happy smile. It was somewhat of an insane smirk. "Good. Once the warriors come out and starting heading towards it, you'll take up the rear. I'll see you later." Then Eclipse just... disappeared. Teleported. Poof. The door started opening, so we decided to move behind a corner so that we could really see what we had with us. Simply put, we weren't disappointed.

Pretty much everything was there. Dragons, were-animals, demons, even some weird looking, but probably deadly, zombie things. Oh, there were more, but we didn't recognize them all so we just waited. Once they all cleared out, we started moving behind them. They didn't look back. They just kept on moving forward, and therefore, we did too.

After who-knows-how-long, we heard a shout: "Invasion!" Finally, we must have made it. It was about time we had some action.

/\

A male being looks into the orb. He can see a fight going on at one of the base camps. He smiles. As he knew, everything was going according to plan. The only one he was truly worried about was Eclipse. He had heard of how resilient the warmonger was, and that he was going to be a tough fight. But no matter. In the end, he would win.

A female being entered the room. The male looks at her, then nods. It was time to start the project once more.

* * *

**And that was the end of the fourth chapter, finally! Now, I need your help. If you want, leave in a review who you want to see fight in the next chapter. It can be involving 2 OCs, Sonic vs. Eclipse, Sonic vs. OC, Eclipse vs. OC, you name it! Read through the chapters again to make sure who you want to see is really what you want. See ya later!**

**~Eclipse**


	5. Pugione Uersus Surculus

**Welcome back to Through the Darkness where there's actually going to be a fight! Because you probably already know the disclaimer drill, I'm sparing Eclipse this time. Let's jump right into this!**

* * *

Pugione Uersus Surculus: Dagger VS. G

\/

POV: G

Once the warning call was sounded, everything just went into chaos. People barged out of tents and went out to fight... well, whatever Eclipse has. I told Swamp and Alicia to split up and help out while I tried to locate Eclipse and get a good look at him. I don't really enjoy going stealth, but I just wanted to get some more information.

As I passed by the other battles that were going on, I actually got a bit worried; I got to see what Eclipse was doing. Zombie things with blades coming out of their backs... dragon anthropomorphs... even some spirit things that looked a bit like ghosts. It appeared that Eclipse was going all out in just one attack. For some reason, though, I felt like there was more trouble heading my way...

\/

POV: Dagger

As soon as that call sounded, everything went out of order. There were fights going on everywhere, bodies falling, multiple bursts of fire... but I was distracted by something else.

While all these battles were going on, I saw one Mobian slinking past it all. He was a brown/green lizard thing, probably a komodo dragon, dressed mainly in black and a few pouches on his back. On closer inspection, I saw that they were holding rifles. Of course, he didn't notice me, and I saw his destination; he was heading straight towards where Eclipse was.

Trying to be a sneaky assassin, was he? I didn't think so. When he got to a gap where no one was fighting, he paused for a bit, looked around and sprinted. That's when I took him out of his path in probably the worst way possible - tackling him.

\/

POV: Normal

G wasn't expecting being knocked down when he was going on his way. He thought he saw Eclipse; black and white flashes showed in between fights. But G realized that the push was purposeful; it didn't feel like someone stumbling. He looked up, then quickly dodged claws coming straight at his throat. He rolled on the ground a bit before getting back up on his feet and seeing his attacker.

He saw a fox with 2 tails, like Tails, that had red fur and blue eyes. He seemed to have the same fashion sense; he, like G, was wearing all black. The fox got back to his feet, then turned around and addressed the komodo.

"And where do you think you're going?"

G smiled. Interesting that the fox would use somewhat of a cliched quote when he was looking at someone that could possibly - and most likely - kill him. "I just saw a certain black and white hedgehog. No other reason than that, really."

It was the fox's turn to smirk. "By any chance, did you order a side of injury with that hedgehog?" So it was going to be a contest, hm? Alright. "No, but I'll make sure you take it back to your leader."

Dagger's face went straight again. "No, please, it's all yours." Then he lunged at G once again. G rolled out of the way, but was grabbed by the leg and thrown into one of the tents. He pulled out his first rifle, took aim and fired. Surprisingly, Dagger was quick, and also dodged out of the way before running towards G with his claws again.

G grabbed Dagger's fist, then kicked at the kitsune's face. The fox ducked and kicked G in the gut before pushing him back down to the ground. G held onto his rifle tight, then made it change into a shotgun. Dagger's eyes widened. 'How was he able to do that?' He was broken out of his shock by a shot fired straight at him, which hit his left arm and left it bleeding a small bit.

G ran towards Dagger, ready to fire again, when Dagger jumped into the air, landed on G's head, and using his legs flung G onto the ground, while scratching his left arm during the process. Almost immediately, G's arm felt like it was on fire. Poison. G, holding his bad arm, picked up the shot gun again and aimed at Dagger. When G shot, though, his aim was off because of his arm and the bullets went off to the left instead. The fox smiled, knowing that the komodo was weak, and charged before being blasted back with a pistol.

Dagger cursed. He could see that his left arm was bleeding even more than he thought. He had to end it quick. G was thinking the same thing. That poison that the fox could create might reach more vital parts of his body soon. Each of them were troubled, but they each knew that their opponent was resilient. Dagger was fast, and G was a hard target to get to up close. Each of them had the same idea and charged at one another, G with the pistol and Dagger with his claws out.

Before either of them could reach the other, though, they were both blocked by a force field appearing, seemingly made out of light. They both fell back, and looked toward the source of the shield... and saw Eclipse. He saw them both looking at him and he smiled. "Glad to see me, you two?" The sound of rushing wind made him frown, though. Standing right in front of him only a second later was Sonic. "What do you think you're doing here?"

The two hedgehogs stared at each other in silence. It seemed like forever before Eclipse spoke into a communicator: "The attack is done. Go back to the base." Eclipse looked back at Sonic and said, "Tend to your wounded. Make sure they don't die on you. The ones you sent after me were too easy." Eclipse made a light shield around both Dagger and himself then disappeared. Sonic turned to G, still on the ground. "Time to get you fixed up." That was the last thing G heard before passing out.

\/

The female being smirked. While the male was dealing with the project, she could see what happened at the base camp. She saw the fight between Dagger and G and her face went straight. They seemed extremely resilient. They wouldn't be taken out easily.

It appeared that the male sensed her discomfort. "Don't worry, they won't be a problem if everything goes to plan." The male said with a deep voice. The female sighed. Of course it would be fine, just not as easy as she originally thought. She and the male left the room - apparently he made some progress.

* * *

**Finally a fight. Now, for another reader choice. In the reviews or PMs say whether you would like another Hero, Villain or Neutral chapter next. I'm trying to make this as reader interactive as possible, so see you in the next chapter!**

**~Eclipse**


	6. Who Are You

**Well hello again! After that fight from last chapter, you might be expecting something else fight-like. Well, let me just say sort of. Remember that/those mysterious person/people from a few chapters? They finally make their debut here. This will be implemented into the storyline, so no worries on that! As always, reviews are appreciated. But enough talk, let's go.**

* * *

Who Are You

\/

Ever since the war started, Station Square became somewhat of a battlefield. Innocents were evacuated days before the war started, and since then it has been sent into ruins. Multiple buildings lay toppled. The train station has been shut away to prevent any unwanted enemies. Battles raged on day after day, and today was no different.

Sergeant Johnson spends every day now in the ruins of Station Square fighting against the Eclipsed. He's one of Commander Tower's star soldiers and leads one of the front lines for attack. The ruins have been divided in half, one GUN and one Eclipsed. As usual, Johnson got up, picked up his assault rifle and readied himself for another day. Nobody knew that this day was going to be different, however.

Nigh every day was the same; he went out into the battlefield, took out some baddies, and took a bit of the city. Every once in a while he would get a report on what the area looked like, and today was one of those days. One of the lower rank soldiers ran up to him, but had a worried face. Johnson said what he did every day - to give him the report. He wasn't prepared for what was said though.

"A half of both our and the Eclipsed land has been taken over by an unidentified force." Johnson started at this. That couldn't be right. His men were out there defending from any other intruders. "There's no way that's possible. Some of our finest men are out there-"

"Sir, they all disappeared." Johnson went berserk. "WHAT? They wouldn't just disappear, not in the middle of a battle for this world! OUR world, nonetheless!" The lower soldier gulped. "You can see for yourself, but you might not like it." Johnson, now livid at the fact that his troops were gone, decided to do just that, not noticing a golden glint catching in the lower soldier's eye...

\/

Now that he saw what it looked like, he could believe the rookie. Tendrils were all around, made of an unknown hard substance. Little orbs that looked like... egg sacks lied around the place. Every so often, he thought that he could hear some sort of breathing noise or an alien screech. He didn't back down, though, not when he had soldiers to find.

As he went deeper in, he decided to put on his gas mask when he saw the air getting greener, expecting some sort of poison. It limited his vision, so he bumped into something every so often. He cursed at the fact that he was surprisingly vulnerable - this could just be a trap set up by the Eclipsed. Eventually, though, he decided against that when he went into a building and saw exactly what he was looking for - though not in the way he expected.

He could hear muffled shouts coming from his comrades, but at the moment he just looked around the room. All around there were egg sacks and random web-like strings in the air. The soldiers were tied up in this, with their mouths tied shut with the web and looking a bit like a spider's lunch. They were stuck to the wall by the same "webbing" and their weapons were littered on the ground. Johnson was wondering what could have done this when it hit him - literally.

Something knocked him off his feet and onto his stomach before he could shout. His rifle slid across the ground for a bit before slowing to a stop in a webbing holster, like the building was expecting him. He was turned onto his back to see his attacker and came face to face with a shiny emerald green face. It was obviously a Mobian, but at the moment it was so close up that it's face was all he could see. It glared at him with fierce golden eyes before speaking. "You've picked the wrong day to come looking for your friends." He heard walking, but still couldn't see anything besides the face. He was abruptly lifted up and slammed against the wall when he saw the other figure.

This one was female, with the same shiny green - was that scales? - and golden eyes. He could feel himself being bound to the wall - he just didn't know what was doing it. The female Mobian walked up and grabbed his cheek. If 1. he was a Mobian and 2. he wasn't in a life-or-death situation that probably involved her, he would say that she was actually pretty-

He didn't get to finish that thought when she started speaking in a smooth voice. "It appears that you've had a bad day. Thankfully, though, you've come just in time. One of your friends here is going to get the first taste of what we can do." She glanced over at the one that seemed youngest. "He'll be good to start out with." He felt his mouth being bound by another unknown object as she walked over to the young soldier. There was obvious fear in his eyes, and the girl smiled at that. "Oh, what's the matter? Are you feeling scared? Don't worry..." She slowly tore off the webbing around his mouth. "You'll be completely safe." She stared at him for a moment before grabbing his head and kissing him.

If Johnson's head could move he would look away, but he was positioned just so he could see it. He was disgusted by this; who did she think she was? After about a minute, the girl pulled away and stepped back. A blue liquid could be seen dripping from the young soldier's mouth while he coughed for air. Suddenly, though, his face became pained. The soldier scrunched his eyes as it could be seen that his muscle was growing a small bit from underneath the webbing. When he opened his eyes again, they were golden and the rest, as they say, was history.

The webbing around his hands disappeared as his fingers slowly fused and elongated into scythe-like blades. They shifted to the left as 2 other blades grew, with one being on the bottom of the "hand" to use as a thumb. Some of the webbing on his arms ripped as spikes erupted from them. His feet started growing, tearing at his boots before eventually bursting out, revealing that his toes fused together, leaving only three, and grew pointed as the rest of his feet changed into a digitigrade position and looking like a cylinder with small spikes sticking out the back.

His knees suddenly locked in a bent forward position as his legs changed to look scaled and insect-like. Some of the webbing on his chest ripped as his chest jerked forward, ripping the uniform and revealing a dark green ridged underbelly. From his spine grew a hollow tentacle-like appendage with a tip like a syringe on top. Wasp wings burst out of the soldier's shoulders, shimmering with life. The rest of the webbing on his arms tore off as his arms showed the same signs of change as the legs.

The soldier doubled over on the floor, gasping and begging for the pain to stop. His lower body slowly grew a bit larger than his upper as his legs got bigger. He screamed, feeling his insides twisting and changing to fit his new body. When he opened his mouth, mandibles slowly grew, his teeth shifting and sharpening to make way for them. His hair fell out, revealing 3 rows of spikes going down the back of the head in between the wings. His mouth and nose slowly elongated into an ant-like mouth, and the remainder of his skin turned the same green as the rest of his body. He let out a final alien scream before collapsing onto the floor.

Johnson stared in horror. He just watched one of his team mates turn into a... insect-like THING. The female Mobian strutted over to him and spoke to him. "That will happen to every single one of you - with a little variety, of course - as a little 'punishment' for invading our little home." The male then walked over to the female and whispered something into her ear. Johnson, still able to form some sort of speech, mumbled "Who are you?" Both of the Mobians looked straight at him and said 3 words:

"We are Equinox."

/\

* * *

**Well, that happened. Now we have a new bad guy/guys that are, believe it or not, the true bad guys of the story. And anyways, who wouldn't be scared of some people who could do THAT? In the review, leave a note saying if you want a Sonic chapter or an Eclipse chapter. In case you didn't know, I don't have this written completely down, so I do need your help!**

**Eclipse: Yeah, you want to keep the story going, don't you?**

**Sonic: Get to those suggestions, and E.w.t.M. here can get his job done easier!**

**Thanks, guys. Anyways, see ya in the next chapter!**

**~Eclipse**


	7. Eclipse Is The Truth

**So, after that what in the world chapter that was Who Are You, we're doing a chapter entirely on the basis of Eclipse. Up to this point, he's been a bit of an enigma; nobody knows who he really is. So this time, everything about him (or most everything) shall be revealed! Besides that, there's not much to say, other than the chapter's going to be a bit short... enjoy, I guess.**

* * *

Eclipse is the Truth

\/

Now, you might be expecting one of those rookies as a speaker right now, right? Sadly, that's not the case. Dagger's roughed up quite a bit, and the other 2 are making sure he's okay. So you have me instead. But wait, who am I? Eclipse, that's who.

If you can't tell, I'm male, and my age... well, I technically don't have one. I'm supposed to be millions and millions of years old, but I look like I'm as old as Sonic. The truth is that I'm actually a deity, like Chaos. Ragnarok is what I used to be. Then Eggman got a "totally smart" idea and put me into this body. To tell the truth, I'm happy but angry that he did.

Ragnarok is/was the god of transformation. Sort of says exactly why I do what I do, right? Along with the transformations, I have the capabilities to manipulate light and darkness, as well as change the time of day at will. You don't know much about what I do with the transformations, though, so what do I do with them? The answer is I do all kinds.

Sometimes I do natural animal transformations, but that's against an enemy to humiliate them. Really, I'm much better than that. Because of that incident with Tabuu, also known as energy-guy-that's-the-Matrix-with-wings, energies from different worlds are existent in ours. Pokemorphs, dragons, giant fire-breathing turtles, Metroids, you name it. Also, through my own little experiments, there are more.

(AN: WARNING: There are references to Rated M games in here. Although the story itself is not going to be as bad as these games, I'm going to put a little =warning= before each one. If the site gets onto me about it, I will remove the M-Rated things.) =Necromorphs=, trolls, giant serpents, even MORE dragons, =Xenomorphs=, demons, zombies, centaurs, hydras, and oh-so-much-more.

Not the guy you would want to mess with, huh? I seem like a pretty bad guy now, don't I? Well, here's something for you - I'm not. Truth be told, I'm helping to save this world from all the bad stuff that humans and Mobians are doing, but do they appreciate me? Nooooo, they send their biggest military group after me to shut me down so that they can destroy their world. As you can see, that hasn't really worked out. After the war is done, and I'm victorious, everything man-made will go kaboom. Every remaining Mobian and human will be transformed, all memory of their past lives will be erased, and everything will be peaceful.

So as you can see, I'm not a bad guy. It just appears that way. If you were expecting some sort of action, sorry, not any here. Maybe next up there will be some. Anyways, time to get back to business and - wait, is that No-Face? "Well, what is it?" No-Face, panting, tells me exactly what I don't want to hear:

"We're being invaded." Oh, brother. This isn't going to be very fun.

\/

Eclipse yelled at No-Face, "Well, what are you waiting for? Tell the guards to be on the lookout! Make sure every single available soldier is out there ready to fight!" No-Face runs off, leaving Eclipse to think. 'Of course, they think that after a majority of their men fall, it's the SMART thing to send some more after me? Then again, that was only one base camp... It appears that I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands, then." Eclipse conjured something in the sky, then runs off to get his gear. Everyone on the ground can see it:

Eclipse is the truth.

/\

**Sorry if this was short, I just wanted to get this out of the way real quick. Not a very long chapter, but now I'm going to ask you guys a question.**

**What hero or neutral OC do you want to see fight Eclipse in the next chapter? It would really help out if you left suggestions for me, as they would help a lot. Anyways, see ya in the next chapter!**

**~Eclipse**


	8. Gladium Contra LumenLamina

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Through the Darkness! After a (hopefully) long awaited time, I'm finally going to post a fight between Eclipse and one of the hero OCs! I've been planning this out in my head, so I think i have a good idea of what to do. Therefore, let's get on with the show!**

* * *

Gladium Contra LumenLamina: Swamp Versus Eclipse

\/

POV: Captain Swamp

After the big battle at the base camp, some of the remaining soldiers picked up the bodies left lying around and disposed of them. As far as I could tell, G was in need of medical attention. After wandering around and noting the gloomy looks on some of the people's faces, I found Sonic and called to him.

"Was that really the Eclipsed just now?"

Sonic, with a grave look, nodded. "Now you see why they need to be stopped. They're too powerful for their own good. Not only that, the Eclipsed have gotten the same help as me." He must have sensed my confusion, so he further explained. "Some new people have joined Eclipse's side - how he convinced them, I don't know. One of them was poisonous; he was the one that put G into medical care."

I frowned. As much as I didn't want to ask, I had to - I wanted to exact revenge. "What are we going to do now?" Only a second after the words left my mouth, Sonic replied.

"We take the fight to them."

\/

Everybody traveled in a group, to make sure we didn't get split up. Sonic told me to be on my guard, but I was too busy staring at what the Eclipsed Lands were.

A wasteland. No plants, no water, nothing. It was always as dark as night because of a constant eclipse that hung in the sky. Every so often we stopped to rest, because even still we had a lot of forces, and I was able to talk to Sonic more about the battle plan.

"To tell the truth, I don't really have one. All we have to do is charge head on. Eventually we'll make it through."

I asked every day to see if it changed. No such luck. When we finally saw the spire up close we started moving faster; this had to be done quick. Before everything erupted into chaos, I could see the clouds become dark and form a message:

Eclipse is the truth.

\/

POV: Normal

From that point on, Swamp raced past the fighting soldiers. He only had one target. He took not of everyone he passed, every single monstrosity that was created for Eclipse's needs. He soon made it into a clear area, and although it was calm, it was too calm. Too quiet for when a fight was going on. That's why when he heard a voice, he instinctively pulled out his two swords and turned to face the speaker.

"Welcome. Quite a surprise to see you here. Are you sure you got an invitation?" A black and white hedgehog stood upon a perch. His grey eyes actually had emotion; a sort of calm, yet raging kind of look loomed in them. Swamp didn't smile. "I'm here to get some revenge for one of my friends. He was injured and poisoned during your attack on the camp." The hedgehog frowned. "Ah, yes, it was G, wasn't it? That was Dagger's doing, by the way. He's a great help, truly."

Swamp knew exactly who he was looking at - Eclipse, the leader of the Eclipsed, and probably one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Mobius. "Well, what are you waiting for, are you going to fight me or not?" Eclipse smiled. "Of course; let me just get my weapons." He pulled two sword hilts out of nowhere and threw them in the air. Two beams of light - one black and one white - burst out of the hilts as Eclipse grabbed them again. Swamp smirked this time. "Oh, being a Jedi, now, aren't you?"

"Oh, very clever. For your information, they're called beam katanas. Not lightsabers." Eclipse jumped down from his perch and got into a fighting position. "I guess you could say en guard, but that takes too much time." With lightning speed, Eclipse rocketed towards Swamp, as the latter only had a second to put up a block before their blades made contact. Eclipse started whaling on Swamp, causing the fox to sweat a little bit. Eclipse had some power behind him. All of a sudden, Eclipse did an underhand sweep and Swamp was rocketed into the air.

The fox turned around just in time to land a strike on Eclipse, who had jumped up at the mid air pirate. Eclipse flipped and landed on his feet as Swamp started attacking in rapid succession, landing many hits before Eclipse could push him back with a mid slash. Swamp could feel his torso cut, but it wasn't too bad; he could fight with a few slices. He sidestepped as Eclipse sped towards him again and managed to catch the hedgehog in the side. He saw his blade cut through the skin, but was surprised when a black liquid came out. While he was distracted, Eclipse counterattacked and blasted Swamp into the wall.

Swamp, although dazed, decided to use his power to his advantage. He focused on the perch that Eclipse was on and made it come out of the wall. The dark hedgehog noticed where the fox was looking, then turned around just as the perch shoved him into the wall. Eclipse coughed a bit, spewing more black liquid, then smiled. "Impressive. You would have been perfect with me. Of course, that's not how it works, is it?" Eclipse grimaced, then continued. "I see you're good when facing two swords, but are you good against four?"

Before Swamp knew what happened, two bladed arms burst out of Eclipse's shoulders as Eclipse threw the perch back at him. Swamp dodged, then looked in awe at what he saw. The black one smiled and said, "Just another one of my tests. You can see how well it worked out," just before rocketing at the fox again and catching him with one of the blade arms. Swamp staggered back as he felt the blade dig into his bicep; he could see a bit of blood leaking out. Eclipse smiled. "It hurts, doesn't it? Sometimes, you just have to get over the pain." Swamp saw as Eclipse was ready to finish him off...

Before the dark hedgehog was blasted by a gust of wind. He smiled. "Ah, Sonic, what a surprise." The blue hedgehog stood there, obviously ready. "You had better call off your attack, Blue Boy, or else you won't have anyone else to help you fight against me." Sonic then turned around, picked up Swamp, and raced off. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," is all the fox heard before blacking out.

\/

The female Equinox smiled as she saw the battle. Eclipse was able to tear apart anyone. That would make things a whole lot easier. The insectoid once-soldier walked in and hissed. It was ready to eat. She threw it a body of a soldier that died of shock when the changed soldier - Private Edwards - transformed. The male, also in the room, smiled, knowing that Chaos' people were ready. He was just about good to go to fight them.

* * *

**And that was chapter 8! If you can't tell from the end, there's going to be a fight in chapter 10! In 9, there will just be filler (and maybe new characters), but I want you to say which Neutral character you want to see fight the male Equinox. Thanks for reading for so long, and see ya later!**

**~Eclipse**


	9. The New Ones

**Hello again, and welcome to another chapter of Through the Darkness! Now, before the chapter starts, I want to say a few things. This chapter will introduce characters for all 3 "factions" if you will. I also want to talk a bit about Eclipse. TatlTails brought up a good point in saying that Eclipse is overpowered, and I do have some reasons for it. However, if you all really want, I will tone him down.**

**Number 1, he's part of a god. A small part, but big enough to have major powers. Being the "offspring" of Ragnarok, the Mobian god of change, leads me to number 2; his transformations. Because he is part of Ragnarok, he's more used to transformations than many others, but he does have a bit of a problem - if he uses too many in rapid succession, he "overloads", and goes absolutely nuts with the transformations. Number 3, when Swamp fought him last chapter, he didn't expect the sudden appendage growth. However, because Swamp saw this, he will be warning the other heroes that he can do that and most likely more. Also, Eclipse says that he'll "try and take it easy on them from now on." Sonic has more experience in fighting Eclipse, and therefore he knows what to expect.**

**As I said, though, if you really want him toned down, say so. I'll be willing to do that. Anyways, rambling aside, let's get to the chapter!**

* * *

The New Ones

\/

Hey, bet you don't know me. My name's Frenzer, and I'm a walking shark. Wasn't expecting THAT, were you? You might be like, "if you're out of the water how are you surviving", and it's simple; special headphones. They sort of act as a constant water filter, keeping me breathing, but otherwise I'm good as dead. If you don't know, and you probably don't, I'm friends with G (A/N: Starkage, in case I got that wrong, please tell me. I just need to say something to sort of get understanding as to why Frenzer's good xD), and when I heard that he was helping out Sonic and the group, I decided to tag along. Sure, I took a little longer, but I'm still doing it.

I heard that some people went with G, and it appeared I was the same way. I eventually ran into - literally - a random wolf. She was carrying around 2 pistols and a crowbar, so I didn't really trust her. After cornering her and having a little brawl - in which I got whacked in the head with said crowbar - we made ends and went with each other. Her name's Brandi, and apparently she was wanting to help Sonic, too. I asked why, but she said no reason. After that, we didn't talk much.

We also found a girl named Hailey, but she preferred that we call her Pinky. She looks a bit like Amy, in a way, and to tell the truth, really innocent. Except for the sword on her back, she would be you're average person. We were having a little quarrel when she found us, and there she revealed her power - she can control emotions. Both me and Brandi calmed down nigh immediately, and we had her tag along for the ride.

We had all heard that Sonic's base camp suffered an attack, so we went to the one he should have been in - the third. Sure enough, we found him there, talking with Tails. We introduced ourselves, and I said to him that I was friends with G. He smiled at me, but at the same time he had a hurt look in his eyes. "You can talk to him, if you want." I agreed, then followed Sonic to what appeared to be a medicine tent. When we went inside, I saw lots of injured people, some with crippling wounds. I was just about to ask why we were here when he motioned to the komodo.

He had lots of cuts on his left arm, and he appeared to have some sort of a fever. I was in shock, just wondering what could have done this. Once I voiced my shock, Sonic said who exactly was responsible.

"Eclipse has some new friends as well. One of them did this." He motioned to a fox, who had a big cut in his arm. "Eclipse himself did that one." Immediately, I knew what I was up against. This guy was a real danger. If he could do that to both those guys, then he could do lots more to normal people. All three of us - Brandi, Pinky and I - didn't know exactly what we were getting into, but we would fight to the end.

\/

I would say hello, but that's too good for you. I'll just say that my name's Ember. Who am I with? No one - that's the thing. I'm on my own. A mercenary, you could say. Whoever pays more gets my help. And really, who wouldn't want my help? I have a little metal attachment on my right arm that controls magnetism, and not only that, it can become a shield, I can shoot with it; you get the gist. I have some nice 7 inch knives as well, meaning I can throw them, then pull them back all at once! Who wouldn't want me?

Now, my story began with watching those people who are apparently helping Chaos, and I was like "Eh, who cares?" However, on a little stroll through Station Square, I saw inside a particular warehouse building and saw something really creepy. Know what I'm talking about? Those Equinox people. But then I thought, "Hey, if they're not working with any of those guys in the war, I bet they can get me some really good stuff. After making myself look good, I strutted right up to one.

The male didn't really like me all that much - he snarled at me. But the female, she was curious. "What's a fine man like you doing in this part of town?" I, putting on my best grin, did what I do best. "I've heard a bit about you - you don't really like anyone in the war, do you? Well, here's a deal; neither do I! So, let's agree on something - you give me what I need to survive, and possibly tune me up a bit, and I'll make sure you get exactly what you want!" The female's eyes shined at that, and even the guy looked interested. "Well, if that's the case, welcome to the club. Our names are Equinox." I didn't let them know I saw them change that guy, because hey, what does that matter?

Of course, I didn't know what they would be able to give me.

/\

**Well, this is a thing. 3 new heroes AND someone that's helping... Equinox?! *gasp* This is gonna be interesting!**

Also, on the topic **of Equinox**, **I've decided something. I was just like, hey, why not, so ALL of the neutral characters are going to fight the Male Equinox! Look forward to that when you get the chance!**

**Anyways, hope you've enjoyed, and see ya in the next chapter!**

**~Eclipse**


	10. Neutras Contra Aequinoctium Masculum

**Hello and welcome back to Through the Darkness! Today, we'll be having a fight go on, so look forward to that! Not only that, we now have the mysterious Ember working with Equinox. Wonder what he'll do? Ah well, let's get on with the chapter.**

* * *

Neutras Contra Aequinoctium Masculum

\/

POV: Normal

After the fight at the base camp, Novas, Marx and Child decided to rest for a while. They found that, in a cave nearby, there was some food as well as some make-shift beds. No doubt Chaos had planned this all out. After their nap, they took the food that they hadn't eaten and set off. They had nowhere specific to go, just a random direction.

Novas, leading the group, eventually came upon the ruins of Station Square. He could see that there was a fight going on, as usual, to see who got control of the city. One day, it was with Sonic, one day, it was with Eclipse, it's always the same. Deciding to maneuver around the battle, the trio made their way into a little alleyway.

Even from this alleyway they could see the destruction the war had caused. Entire buildings laid in ruins as a result of the war, others near to gaining the same fate. The sidewalk was cracked and unstable; one false step could send you plummeting into the sewer below. Because of these cracks, they could hear faint roars. Someone - or something - had to be in there.

They continued on, looking for something to stop, when they came upon the Eclipsed side of the city. Like the Eclipsed Lands, it was grey and barren. No buildings were left around here, giving no cover ground. Of course, who would need it when they had such powerful minions? However, Marx saw something before the others and pointed it out; a sphere that was almost pure black with little white specks that were always moving, like space itself was trapped inside.

They felt that they were being watched, then turned around to see Chaos. "That is one of the cores of Endless Dark Matter, a creation of Eclipse's. During one of the battles from long ago, it was destroyed by the power of Super Sonic - but not completely. Multiple cores are spread around the world, and if the Eclipsed get them all, Endless Dark Matter can be reborn. However, there is also another problem."

Chaos motioned to a pure white being, appearing to be partially invisible. "That is Poltergeist, one of the creations of Endless Dark Matter's existence. Like his namesake, he can become invisible and wreak havoc. Any object that he holds gets a transformative (AN: I made that word up for the sake of the story. If you can think of a better word, please tell me :D) charge. If that object punctures a subject, the person or thing will eventually change into a half-being fused with that object."

Chaos apparently started to say something else, but then froze. His eyes, or whatever they were, widened. "He is near. The being that shall play as the puppet master. Do not underestimate him, for he is a powerful foe with no emotion." The trio nodded, then raced out of the alleyway to the street. They heard shouting and saw that some of the Eclipsed started chasing after them...

before being stopped by sudden spikes shooting from the ground.

They heard walking and turned around to see a shiny green scaled figure with golden eyes walking towards them. It spoke, sounding very melancholy. "Well, well, look what the war caught for me. It appears that some fun is about to be had." Novas, noticing a challenge, bared his teeth and yelled out, "You think you're so tough? Why not show me that in a fight?" His hands caught on fire as the green figure smirked, with no emotion behind it. "You have no idea what you are going up against. It is about time you found your place."

Fight! Versus Mysterious Figure

Theme: First of the Year (Equinox) - Skrillex

Without warning, Novas charged, catching entirely on fire. The being dodged, surprisingly slow, but was caught by Novas pulling out his sword Fire's Edge. The skin of the being was singed, but it was still going. It punched the ground with both of his hands as spikes shot up at Novas. The flaming hedgehog burst through them, getting a few thorns stuck in him before them burning away. Novas jumped into the air and fired a beam of heat at the scaled figure. It stood there, putting up its arms for defense against the fire.

When Novas landed, he saw the smoke clear and the figure still standing. His arms were severely burned, but he shook it off. Novas was actually slightly impressed; he didn't expect him to last this long. He was knocked off his feet, however, as the being leaped towards him with lightning speed. The breath knocked out of him, Novas was thrown onto the ground by the force of it. The figure stood over him as it raised its fist and connected with Novas' jaw. The flame around him went out as Novas' head snapped to the side. His neck wasn't broken, but it was likely his jaw was fractured.

The being raised its fist again for the final blow before being knocked off by Marx. Marx started clawing at the being's face before being pushed off. The being got up, blue blood coming from the scratches. It leaped towards Marx before being caught in the side by Novas, who had gotten back up. Novas picked up Marx and tossed him aside before walking up to the being. Novas started glowing and the being only had one chance to look up before hearing him yell "Hyper Nova Combust!"

Novas was suddenly engulfed in flame again, with the being holding up his hands once again. The scaled one could feel his skin constantly being burned. Even still, he slowly got up and started walking towards the fire being. Once he got close enough, Novas smirked as he was engulfed in light. The being's eyes stayed the same as the light expanded before leaving an explosion in it's wake. Marx's eyes widened. There was no way Novas could have survived that.

Yet there he was, standing on a small bit of land that didn't collapse into the sewers below. He was visibly smirking, thinking he had done a job well done before his eyes became as big as the sun. The being was still alive, albeit standing up. Somehow, some way, it still survived, still having that emotionless look on its face. However, it fell to its knees, obviously bleeding. Novas was about to jump towards it to deal the final blow before being blasted into a building by a shot.

A grey cat stood a few feet away, pointing a metal arm at the place Novas used to be standing. Saying nothing, it picked up the being and leaped away. Novas got up from being blasted into the wall as Marx and Child both ran towards him. "Novas, are you okay?" The hedgehog grimaced, and with a scowl on his face he replied, "No. I think my jaw's broken. That guy was pretty powerful." He saw Chaos coming towards them, and they all turned around as he spoke.

"That was Equinox - or rather, one of them. He is an alien from an entirely different dimension. He has conquered all the worlds he has invaded and changed all the creatures on the planet into his minions. They work like bees; normally, the males are the least important. However, it is different in the fact that there are multiple rulers. There are a queen and king, the former ruling over the latter, and an emperor and empress who have the same power. They also rule over their colony.

"We are all tired. We should get rest." They followed Chaos into another alleyway as he showed them a building with beds and food. Chaos disappeared as the trio got to eat and went to sleep. They had enough fighting for one day.

\/

**Wow, that was long. Anyways, that was another chapter of Through the Darkness for ya! Next chapter, Ember the Cat gets a little bit of a "tune-up" from Equinox. Wonder what that means? Anyways, see ya for the next chapter!**

**~Eclipse**


	11. From Ember to Inferno

**Hello and welcome to another chapter of Through the Darkness! This might be shorter than the other chapters, but it's Ember's POV of the aftermath of the insane fight between Equinox and Novas from the last chapter :D. So let's get this started!**

* * *

From Ember to Inferno

\/

Of course, I didn't MEAN to get involved in it. I just saw Equinox on the ground and some guy standing on a tiny little platform. Since I had already said I would help out, I decided to do that when I blasted that other guy off that pillar. Equinox, although pretty heavy, was able to be picked up and carried away. So that's what I did.

When I got back to the base, the female Equinox came running towards me. "What happened to him? Did Chaos' people rough him up a bit?" The male Equinox spoke up, though, partially surprising me. "I knew that they were coming. I was planning to cut them all off." The female frowned. "And you thought that you could take on THREE people? I know you're already a dunce, but that was just a death wish!" I noticed that the male didn't really have much emotion - none at all, actually. "So what if it was a death wish? I wouldn't feel any pain anyways."

Then I realized how he had survived so many fire blasts. When I said he had no emotion, I wasn't kidding; he didn't care how beat up his body was because he wouldn't feel it! "Okay, okay, you guys realize that I was the one that got him away from the fight, right? Aren't I going to get something for it?" The female smiled and said exactly what I thought she would say - "Actually, yes."

Wait, what? That wasn't what I thought she- "I think you should get a nice new addition to your arsenal already. Don't you agree?" She grabbed my chin and I grinned. Of COURSE I should get something for saving the guy that will change the world's life. "So, what's it gonna be, Miss Equinox?" She beckoned me into one of the buildings and I followed her.

Inside had only one content - a syringe. Inside the syringe was a strange blue goop thing. She must have caught my disturbed glance and she smiled at me. "Don't worry. It won't hurt too much. Nothing bad is truly going to happen to you." She grabbed my arm, then raised the syringe to one of my veins. Once she inserted the syringe and pushed, the last thing I heard before blacking out was "You're going to have lots of fun."

\/

When I woke up again, my brain was cloudy and I was face down on the concrete of the street. I shook my head and stood up, making sure my trusty knives were still with me, when I heard running behind me. Acting fast, I turned around, throwing one of my knives at the attacker - one of the GUN soldiers. The knife went straight through his ribcage and he fell, after coughing a bit.

Using my magnetic powers, I pulled the knife from his ribcage and it flew back to me. I heard guns cocking, then turned around to see more soldiers aimed at me. I heard more clicks, and I turned around to see some Eclipsed foes. I actually got a bit nervous - all the crossfire was going to kill me! All of a sudden, though, my head started to ache. It was like it was on fire!

Clutching it, I sank to my knees, feeling my blood start to boil. My right hand, being metallic, actually made the pain worse; I was literally crushing my skull. Putting both my hands on the ground, I gasped for air until I felt a sharp pain shoot through my left hand. It started clenching up, the glove on it starting to tear, until it suddenly rose up and claws tore through it. They, along with my fingers, grew longer and sharper, as sharp as a razor. Spikes started poking out of the exterior of my lower arm.

My feet began to ache as well, my shoes getting tighter. Eventually, they burst open, revealing that my heels had rose up and had spikes beneath them. My toes grew claws that wrapped around them as spikes poked out of the back of my legs too. I could feel my tail getting longer and sharper. The tip ended at a point and spikes wrapped around the base of it.

My shoulders started throbbing as insectoid wings started growing out of them. As I screamed, the wings grew larger and got stronger until they could lift up my weight. Spikes appeared in between them and appeared as rows on my head, with antennae growing in the front. The last change I noticed was in my sight - it went from being normal to a golden tint, with me being able to see all the way around me, even the back.

I could see the soldiers backing away in fear as I started getting up. I felt power start rushing through my body and I laughed. Not just one of your happy laughs, either. As I laughed, more power grew and the people backed away more. This was actually exciting! I felt like I could do absolutely ANYTHING! As I picked up my knives, they turned into half saw blades with serrated edges.

Now I was ready to hunt. No more Ember for me! I was a raging inferno!

Madness! Ember

Music: Hellfire - SoulCalibur II

The foolish humans started firing their weapons at me, but I raised my metal arm and they bounced off me. I threw the saw blades and they acted like boomerangs, taking out a good third of the GUN soldier's force. I heard - actually, more like felt - running behind me, and as I pulled my blades back with magnetism I spun around and sliced at the Eclipsed forces with my left arm, slicing the minions to bits with my giant claw.

I turned my gaze towards the ground as heat started coming from it. Fire burst from behind the Eclipsed and GUN forces to block their escape. The very concrete caught on fire as I drew power from it and shot a fireball towards the rest of the soldiers. They dodged, but the impact of the fireball with the fire wall made it suddenly expand, engulfing the humans.

I turned to the Eclipsed and shot into the air as a result of the fire. I created a huge ball of fire and solar power, aimed it at the Eclipsed, then made the saw blades circle it as I shot it to them. As it impacted the ground, fire erupted in all directions, frying every single one of them. I called back my saw blades, and watched as the ground crumbled.

I laughed an insane laugh once again. I was nigh invincible! No one could stop me! However, I felt my power fading. I had to get out of here before it disappeared completely. I flew back over to the main base of Equinox, not noticing 3 pairs of eyes watching me from an alleyway...

/\

**...well, that was something. Now, should the next chapter be a neutral, a hero or a villain chapter? You guys decide! Remember, what you say impacts the story! Anyways, see ya for the next chapter!**

**~Eclipse**


	12. Primum Contra Ventum Eclipsis

**Finally, after so long, the twelfth chapter of Through the Darkness is here! Sorry for the long wait, guys, but I've been sick, and I've had a lot of stuff to do. Anyways, this chapter is going to have a little surprise in it, so just stick around! Something I need to say first: Thanks so much for supporting me as I went through the story. I truly wasn't expecting the story to go as well as it did.  
**

**So now, without further ado, welcome back to Through the Darkness!**

* * *

Primum Contra Ventum Eclipsis: Sonic Versus Eclipse - The First

\/

POV: G

I woke up feeling really drowsy in a tent. My head was really fuzzy, but I could faintly remember being at the base camp, fighting against a fox like Tails and then... nothing. I looked around and saw Captain Swamp, and he didn't look too good. His left arm was bandaged up, and he had a cut on his stomach. G heard someone walking in and turned around. Sonic had come into the tent, smiling but having an apologetic look in his eyes.

"I'm glad you're awake. Dagger roughed you up quite a bit, but thankfully Amy knew enough about first aid to help you." I asked him what had happened while I was out. "Well, we tried to invade Eclipse's fortress - and failed, might I add - as well as welcomed some more people into our ranks. I was just about to call a meeting with all the people that had joined recently to talk strategy. Now that you're awake, I can do that."

I got up slowly, still woozy from the poison, and started walking with Sonic. All around the camp I could see people with solemn faces from past losses. I understood how they felt - we had pretty much lost the last two attacks, and there was no sign of the Eclipsed letting up. Once I followed Sonic into the biggest tent, I heard tons of voices all around me. Alicia was there, as well as two unknown people and one familiar face: Frenzer.

I saw Frenzer smile at me, but he didn't say anything; possibly because Sonic told him not to. I looked towards the back of the tent and saw a yellow two-tailed fox that everyone knew and loved - well, sort of - Tails. Once he started talking, the tent got quiet.

"First off, I want to thank those of you that are still here helping fight against Eclipse, as well as the new recruits that have helped hold off his armies." Applause, then silence as Tails held up his hand, a disc in it. "This disc holds a special video of Sonic's first real battle against Eclipse, which was originally not known of by Sonic himself; for security purposes, as Eclipse has been known to send in little fakes in order to gather information."

Tails inserted the disc into a little player and continued. "The point of this tape is to give you an idea of Eclipse's strategy. If any of you should end up facing him, you should at least know how to survive against him." Then the video started up, and all we did was watch.

\/

POV: Flashback Normal (A/N: For flashbacks, I'll probably be putting in bits of dialogue hinted by [this] to show reactions to the video/whatever is going on.)

Eclipse and Sonic stand on opposite sides of a circular platform high in the air. The video looks down, revealing that this is the top of an Eclipsed Spire, then looks back at the two hedgehogs.

"Sonic, so nice of you to be here. Always so slow to catch on... do you not realize that there is no point in resisting? Every day, humans come one step closer to self destruction. I'm not destroying the world, I'm saving it! (A/N: Wesker quote for the win!)" Eclipse laughs, then glares at Sonic with a smile on his face.

"Eclipse, you're insane. All these people in the world deserve a chance to show you exactly how good they can be. Not all of them create the destruction you see. Just give them a chance!" Determination can be seen on the face of Sonic as he tries to convince Eclipse to stop his plans.

"Oh, Sonic, it's not just pollution. This planet is being overpopulated. Only a few people really matter. The rest are just so chaff. And now, with my new powers, I can finally do so." Eclipse laughs again before proceeding to charge at Sonic, beam katanas in hand.

Encounter! Eclipse vs. Sonic - Music: Dragon Slayer

Sonic jumps over Eclipse and lands a kick to his hand as the black and white hedgehog tries to slice Sonic in two. Sonic then bounces on Eclipse's head, knocking him to the ground before being landed on feet first. Sonic jumps off of his downed foe just as he rockets back up and charges at Sonic once more.

The blue hedgehog dodges the katana slice and grabs Eclipse's arm, wrenching the katana free and taking it for himself. Eclipse brings the other katana around and is blocked as the two hedgehog's stare off. "Sonic, you fool. You are merely postponing the inevitable. Now it is time to end this once and for all!"

Eclipse knocks the katana out of Sonic's hand and pushes him towards the edge of the platform. Sonic regains his balance just as bladed arms burst out of Eclipse's back and the black one charges. Sonic jumps over Eclipse again, this time landing behind him and landing a kick between his shoulder-blades. Eclipse whips around and finds a roundhouse kick directed for his face connecting.

Eclipse staggers back, nearly falling off the platform, then jumps into the air, preparing to bring his blades down on Sonic. Sonic rolls out of the way and spin-dashes into the bladed foe. Eclipse blocks the high-speed ball, and grumbles out a sentence. "You don't stand a chance!" Eclipse then pushes Sonic back and tries slicing the blue one's arms off.

Sonic jumps back and attacks Eclipse from the air, knocking him off the platform. The black and white hedgehog digs into the platform with his blades before launching into the air, breaking the bladed arms off. Eclipse lands and throws a kick towards Sonic's gut, which is countered with a punch to the kidney. Sonic roundhouse kicks Eclipse once again and revs up for another spin-dash.

Eclipse holds out his hands and catches the blue blur before slamming him onto his knee. Sonic coughs before being lifted up and slammed onto the ground, where he is promptly kicked in the gut. Sonic doubles over, then is grabbed in the small crook between his head and his body and is lifted into the air.

"I've had fun, Sonic, really... but you just can't beat me." Eclipse proceeds to try and throw Sonic off the edge, but the blue one wrenches himself out of the grip and kicks Eclipse down. Sonic then slams his fight on Eclipse, who yells out in pain and tries to wriggle his way out from under the foot.

"Sorry, Eclipse, I've had fun... but you can't beat me." Sonic says mockingly before slamming his foot into the black and white one's head, knocking him out. A plane can be seen flying by, and Sonic smirks before jumping off the edge and landing on the plane. The video then turns off.

\/

POV: G

Once the video ended, murmurs were heard around the tent until Tails raised his hand once again. "Eclipse's main strategy is to charge at the opponent to try and end them quickly. Therefore, it is considered best to play the defensive against him, else you might end up in a bad position. Thank you for your time. Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to work on my machines."

Tails proceeds to start walking out of the tent, but I catch a glimpse of something in his eye. It seemed like his eye color turned a darker blue, but I couldn't tell very well. Then I thought about the video. If that really was true film, then it would be smart to be defensive. But strategies change over time, so Eclipse might change too.

As I'm thinking this over, I remember someone who's faced Eclipse himself: Swamp. He's the one I can really trust to give me a strategy talk. Now, all I have to do is wait until he gets up...

* * *

**That's the end of chapter 12 for you! Remember, tell me what you think of the chapter in the reviews and leave ideas of what I should do next. See ya guys later!**


	13. Dark Matters

**Hello again and welcome to Through the Darkness! At the rate this is going, I'm going to probably update this story on Saturdays and Power Surge on Sundays. As usual, thanks for reviewing the last chapter, and let's get on with this one!**

* * *

****Dark Matters

\/

POV: G

I headed back into the medicinal tent just to see Swamp start to stir. He slowly opened his eyes before wincing at some pain. I knelt down next to him. "Swamp, I'm glad you're okay. Sonic and Tails showed us one of Sonic's previous battles with Eclipse, and it basically showed to go defense because Eclipse charges at you. You know what it's like to face Eclipse. What did he do?"

Swamp was silent for a moment, then looked up and said, "He seemed pretty aggressive to me. He didn't really let me get any good hits on him." _So it was true,_ thought G, with a slight smirk on his face. Swamp heard something outside the tent and looked towards the sound. G did also, and he saw Sonic slowly entering the tent.

"Sorry to interrupt this union, guys, but we've found something really bad." Sonic helped get Swamp into a wheelchair, and I followed behind the blue blur. A group of people was crowding around someone, who, at further notice, was Tails. His eyes seemed deep in thought, and I thought that I saw his eyes change color again.

Sonic walked up to him and picked up what Tails was looking at. Gasps and murmurs of disbelief were heard as Sonic revealed an orb that was pure black except for some moving white spots, as if space itself was trapped inside. "For any of you who don't know, this is a piece of the being known as Endless Dark Matter. Dark Matter could possibly have been one of my toughest challenges against Eclipse yet, but I thought that all the pieces were destroyed in my battle with him..."

Tails took the orb from Sonic and looked at it further before speaking. "If this is really a piece of E.D.M., then it is of the utmost importance that this remains outside of the Eclipsed's grasp. If they already have most of the pieces and they get this one, they might be able to recreate that monster." Everyone nodded in agreement, as well as myself. Of course, if I knew what else was going on at that moment I wouldn't have been so sure...

POV: Normal

A group of Eclipsed, led by Eclipse, Dread and Marcus, can be seen heading into a giant temple-like building. The Eclipsed forces glare at the two unusual helpers, but Eclipse doesn't care. If his calculations were correct, something very important could be hidden inside this structure.

"Scan the area! If anything looks suspicious, then you will come and tell us." Once the forces divide, Eclipse looks at the other two and sighs. "I'm sorry this isn't the most exciting thing, but I promise it'll all pay off." Eclipse starts walking forward and motioning to the walls, with Dread and Marcus following in both movement and sight.

"This is an ancient temple telling of a being so powerful, it could change not only timelines, but also destroy worlds at its whim. There have been rumors that this creature is residing on Mobius, but so far no proof has turned up." Eclipse feels the ground underneath him sink a little, and as he steps back a staircase forms starting at the hidden plate in the ground. Eclipse smirks, then presses on something in his ear.

Soon, all the forces come back to him and the group continues the trek through the temple. Eventually, they come into a large hallway leading to an arched doorway with various glowing symbols on the wall. Eclipse touches the marking that appears like three claw marks an equidistance apart, and the large door begins to open to reveal four black-and-white glowing orbs surrounding a large statue of a blob-like figure.

Murmurs are heard through the army before Eclipse raises his hand and walks forward. He kneels down and reads an inscription on the base of the statue. "Thine four orbs of galactic descent may bring thine great hope, along with ascent, into the heavens above, but be forewarned, if you are not worthy you will be scorned by the keepers of time and space alike, and once they are done you'll never see the light."

Eclipse scoffs. "Pure jibber-jabber. I know who is worthy of the power of madness and who isn't." Eclipse raises his hands and the orbs float towards the statue as the ground starts glowing. As the army watches in awe, Eclipse pushes his hands forward and the orbs enter the statue. Eclipse then makes a large container of light as the statue starts liquefying and dripping into the container. Slowly, the container fills up with the black and white substance.

"We have what we need here. Let's move out." The group begins to leave the temple at which the four of the twenty cores of Endless Dark Matter. Eclipse smirks internally, knowing that he can recreate the orbs with time, and the fact that he has another core that will be heading out of Station Square soon. However, he doesn't realize that he won't get one core without a fight...

* * *

**And that was the, what, thirteenth chapter of this story? It makes perfect sense, seeing that although Sonic and G.U.N. have a core of E.D.M., Eclipse just got a fifth of what's needed for the same creature! As usual, leave a review saying how you think of the story, and I'll see ya for the next chapter!**


	14. Retrieval and Release

**Fourteenth chapter of Through the Darkness, here we come! As a quick side note, a chapter might not have gotten out today for some personal reasons, but here I am, so let's get this going!**

* * *

Retrieval and Enclosement

\/

POV: Child

I don't think you've heard me talking yet about the big war, but here I am. I'm Child - the one Marx calls family - and immediately you might be thinking "What is she doing in such a big war like this? Shouldn't she be kept under watch and make sure she's safe?". But my answer to that is no, because I'm the safest I could possibly be with Marx and Novos, because even though Novos is really angry a lot of the time he still tries to keep me safe.

Of course, you can be physically safe and mentally safe. And after seeing the big Ember rampage, I'll pretty torn up by that. I mean, what kind of person would DO something like this? Oh wait... that's right. It's either Eclipse, who we barely know in the first place, or this so called alien that the big water monster keeps talking about.

Speaking of that, he appeared right behind us as we were turning around to start leaving the area. "I understand that you are thrown off by the sudden change of events, but you must stay here for a little longer. The Eclipsed base camp here in the city has been divided - a half is going to the GUN base camp, and a half is staying. One of the people leaving is Poltergeist, but through some chance of luck he didn't take the Endless Dark Matter piece."

"As a result, it is of utmost importance that you retrieve it. Dark Gaia has told me that Eclipse now has 4 of the twenty cores in his possession, and the fifth in here will be heading out in a day's time. Your best chance to go for it is now." Novos' eyes widened before he spoke up. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You mean you're working with the earth-shattering Dark Gaia in this?" If the water monster had a mouth, he would probably be frowning right now.

"It is what has to be done to save this world. As both Dark Gaia and Eclipse have the power to control darkness - the former to an extent - they are both evenly matched... you'd think. However, Eclipse can control more than just the night, as well as control the opposite of the dark, meaning that Dark Gaia would be at a disadvantage. Not only that, Ragnarok was the elder god of the two, as he was made into being first, which gives him slightly more power in that sense."

"OK, we get it now. Get the core from the base camp, then book it out of here." I suppressed a laugh. Marx could be a little bit funny at serious times. "Exactly. Now hurry, for it will not be too long until the rest of the Eclipsed come back."

\/

POV: Novos

Hello again. I'm back. Surprise. After the big talk with Chaos, the three of us slowly made our way to the base camp, where sure enough, there were only a few Mobians around. We got the jump on them and in no time flat they were all down on the ground, unconscious. Marx started moving toward the floating black orb before a voice behind us spoke. "Don't move. I have a weapon."

All three of us turned around to see the same transparent Mobian from before: Poltergeist. Behind him were tens of hundreds of soldiers. Sure enough, he was holding a magnum, pointed straight at Marx's chest. "You will not touch that orb, or else the cat will die. I will fire my weapon, and he will fall, slowly bleeding out." I looked at him, and my eyes did all the talking.

"One..." Poltergeist frowned and steadied his aim on Marx's chest. "Two..." The transparent form pulled out another gun and pointed it at me, not noticing Marx leap for the orb until he got hold of it. Poltergeist swore, then threw the guns on the ground, revealing that they were fake, before charging towards the three of us. I ducked under his kick and made a bolt for it, burning anything that got in my way.

He went for Marx next, but the cat dodged out of the way of his punch, grabbed Child, and kicked the ghost-like figure in the back of the head. Poltergeist staggered - revealing that he could be hit - and Marx took his chance to run after me, leaving the ghostly figure in the dust.

\/

POV: Normal

Poltergeist swore again before putting his hand up to his ear. "Master Eclipse, there has been a slight sidetrack. The guards I left at the base camp turned out to be useless, and a group of nobodies stole the core from the camp." He winced, hearing the harsh words of his master, before speaking again. "You do remember that you have something for this, right?"

A pause. Then a chuckle from Eclipse. As he spoke, Poltergeist's face grew shocked. "You want ME to release it? Do you realize how dangerous that is for me? ...alright, alright, I'll do it. But it's your fault if you lose a perfectly good person." He took his hand off of the ear piece and started walking towards the only remaining building - a laboratory of sorts.

Poltergeist made his way down underground until he came upon a capsule with a large figure inside of it. He pressed some buttons on the command console, and the tube slowly started to open up, smoke coming out of it. A thump was heard as the figure began walking out to face the ghost. A disfigured face looked at him as he said one word: "STARS?"

Poltergeist smiled. "No, but I do know who is, my man." The giant being began to make his way out of the building as the ghostly figure fed him information about the trio of outcasts. Once it got outside, it roared, then charged out of the city to look for the people he has been told to eliminate.

Poltergeist looked on before saying one short sentence: "Have fun... Nemesis."

/\

* * *

**Fourteenth chapter is now finished! And, as per usual, Eclipse has another trick up his sleeve... this time, Nemesis? The reason he is in the story will be explained in the next Eclipsed-based chapter, but right now it's the neutral's time to shine! Anyways, see ya for the next chapter!**

**Note: This will not turn into a Sonic/Resident Evil crossover. Nemesis is the only RE character in this, although others will be mentioned at times by Eclipse, and besides, there are already a ton of things from other series, video game or not. Therefore, it will remain in this section of FanFiction.**


	15. The Chase Begins

**Happy 4th of July, everyone, and welcome to Through the Darkness! As a result of Independence Day being today, I'm going to update the story both today AND tomorrow, seeing as it's my main one on this website! Now, I need to do something really quick...**

**Eclipse: I have to do disclaimer again. Fine... Sonic and his friends belong to SEGA, all OCs belong to their creators, and NEW: Nemesis, along with any other Resident Evil mentions or topics, belong to Capcom... right?**

**I think so. Besides, Wesker and Chris are in MvC3, so... let's get this started now!**

**Side note: I'm not going to be accepting any more characters from this point on. It's not because of a constant annoyance, I just think that there are enough characters as it is. Sorry to disappoint anyone who's characters didn't get in, but I think 13 characters is enough. The good, Sonic, Organization XIII! Nah, that's not it. Anyways, let's begin.**

* * *

The Chase Begins

\/

POV: Novos

As we walked away from the city, all three of us were looking over this all-important core of some god-like being. Really, who cares? It can be destroyed, as has already been proven. Of course, Child was all about the moving little specks of white, as they moved even though we held it still. Marx, on the other hand, was probably thinking about how we were going to hide this from everyone.

Eventually, as it started to get dark, we made a little camp in the forest and began to talk about some random things, mainly about the war. Eventually, a fourth voice came in, but we all knew who it was - although the message was ominous. "There is a problem." Chaos came over and stood near Marx as we all looked at each other. What kind of problem could there be? We got the core, escaped with it, getting away with it...

"A unknown entity is moving towards you. Neither I, nor Dark Gaia, nor the other gods of this world have seen anything like this. We suspect that Poltergeist sent it after you to retrieve the core, but all the same, you all need to begin moving first thing in the morning. It doesn't seem to be letting up." Marx nodded for us, and Chaos began to talk about the weird core thing.

"As I have told you, this is one core out of twenty that will form Endless Dark Matter, should they all be brought together. When Sonic and his friends had to fight it, I along with the other gods witnessed its power. The monster takes the form of a large shadow that will sweep across the world, causing complete havoc. At times, it has to shrink itself down to fit through small gaps. While shrunken, its power shrinks with it."

"Therefore, it is best to fight Endless Dark Matter while he is about Mobian height than when he is enlarged. However, there is another catch. Even if you manage to defeat him, the only point at which he will be Mobian size is at a Hollow Hill, as he calls it, which connects directly to the core of the earth. The power burst that he lets out after being defeated makes the hill cave in on itself, leaving a straight shot down - which he takes."

"The result is a dragon-like shadow of him, more powerful than any of his other forms. Originally, he could absorb the energies of any source by using a sudden amount of extreme pressure, then pulling the result into his body. When Sonic, Shadow and Silver were all Super, however, he could not absorb them or the Chaos Emeralds - so he took the Malice Emeralds instead. The resulting battle left a scar of destruction outside of Central City."

Marx spoke up just about now - finally, too. I was getting bored of Chaos' rambling. "Then our next destination should be Central City and that Hollow Hill." When Chaos looked at him strangely, Marx continued. "Other cores might be in that area, especially near the hill. It might have been that the energy of the Chaos Emeralds destroyed him completely at first, but then the cores reformed and the momentum of the explosion had been kept in their limbo, therefore sending them flying."

"Good assumption, Marx." Chaos was about to say more, but we all heard a crashing through the trees. We didn't even have to hear the command. We got the orb, our stuff, and bolted out of the forest. Just as we were a few miles away, we heard a crash, and turned around to see some sort of monster just outside of the forest, which yelled only one thing: "STARS!"

\/

POV: Marx

I nodded at the others and we began to run again, but I veered to the left as a rocket was fired just to the right of me. "He seriously has a rocket launcher?!" Novos made a thermal updraft and floated on it for a second as another rocket flew right under him. He shot a fireball at the thing, then landed as he stated, matter-of-factually, "Yeah. And he has ammo for it too."

I noticed another propulsion and we both split up, with me grabbing Child out of the way of the rocket. I was about to get back to Novos after it passed, but a sudden chasm split us up even more than before. I set Child down and paid attention to the orb in my hand, where all the little specks were spazzing out. I heard a thump and looked behind me, then narrowly dodged a hand flying forward to either punch or grab me.

"How did that thing get behind us so quickly?" It aimed another rocket to our right, therefore trapping us in-between it and the chasm. I decided to take a chance, grab Child, and jump down in. We landed on a small ledge and began making our way down, the thing following close behind us. Once we got down to the water, we jumped over it and started making our way to Novos.

Apparently, the thing couldn't jump far, so it had to make its way through the water, although it wasn't being hindered at all. I had made my way back to Novos, before seeing it jump up to the ledge right where I was a few seconds ago - from the bottom. Note to self: it jumps high, not far. Novos turned around to fire repeated fireballs at it, which was slowing it down a bit. Apparently it wasn't pain-proof like Equinox.

We finally made it to the end of the chasm, and Novos fired a powerful shot at the monster, which blasted it back into the chasm. We came to a stop really quickly, looked down at the thing that was falling, and Novos stated "I shalt send you back from whence you came, demon." before walking off again, us two following. I knew it wasn't dead yet, but it was a start. It can't keep going forever.

/\

* * *

**And that's the end of chapter 15! 15 chapters, and I don't think I'm even halfway done with this story. Now, while I was typing this, I was thinking "Hey, what about the male Equinox against Nemesis? How would that go?" So, you guys tell me! Do you want to see a fight between Equinox and Nemesis in the future? Anyways, see ya for the next chapter!**


	16. Contra, Nemesis Masculum Aequinoctium

**As stated on Thursday, I am updating this story again today on Saturday! Welcome back, and after pondering, I have decided what this chapter will be about - a little sidetrack from the problem that the neutrals are having. Let's get started!**

* * *

Contra, Nemesis Masculum Aequinoctium: Nemesis VS Male Equinox

\/

POV: Normal

After the raid on Eclipse's base camp in Station Square, Equinox was watching as Poltergeist was releasing Nemesis to chase the neutral forces. The female chuckled. "I don't understand why he had to go and send big, bad monster thing after a group of three people. Overkill a bit, isn't it?" The male growled. It's not as if he cared. As long as they were dead, it was fine by him.

Then the female noticed something in Nemesis' hand, a small little box, not too unlike a communicator. A smile grew on her face. "I know! Maybe if we kill that... thing... we can get that communicator, make a little 'alliance' with Eclipse, and once he gets all weak from Sonic... bam! The world is ours! How does that sound?" Although the male growled, Ember actually considered it.

"That's actually a good idea... besides the fact that Big Guy here couldn't even beat the trio earlier, and he only had to fight two of them! Don't you think someone else needs to go and fight that thing?" The male Equinox glared with melancholy hatred at Ember. "I can't feel pain. You can. If you were hit by that, your back would be broken in an instant. I wouldn't care. It would die all the same."

"Don't try to scare me with that look, Equinox. I know it's fake, just like all of your other emotions are!" The female, annoyed by the argument going on between the two, finally snapped at both of them. "Will you two shut up already! The other me will fight against that monster. Ember, if he needs help at some point, you can help. Meanwhile, I stay here and make reinforcements. Got it?"

The males looked at each other, then nodded. It was best not to make her angry. Ember took the chance to speak. "Have fun with that, Equinox F. As for you-" He pokes the male in the chest. "-you might want my help for this, taking the fact that I took out a quarter of BOTH armies a day or so ago." The male grumbled, then the two made their way out of the building, leaving the female to her schemes.

"It's true that the girl from earlier didn't help them at all. Maybe, if I can get her alone, I can morph her, and then the other two will have no choice but to either kill her or join us! Oh, aren't I just the most genius of all people?" She laughed, then made her way deeper into the building. She had soldiers to transform, babies to make...

\/

"It took long enough. How do you know where he is at all times?" "I'm connected to the orb through my mind. It constantly shows all that is going on in the world. Therefore, I know exactly where this 'Nemesis' thing is." "Doesn't it crowd your head at all? I mean, all that going on at once must get confusing." "As you might say later, unless I tell you now, my head is pretty much empty. Therefore, me telling it to you, it's not an insult, and I don't have to break someone's arm for it."

This summed up the conversation as Ember and Equinox finally made their way to the chasm at which the first chase began between the neutrals and Nemesis. Said monster was slowly making his way up at the end of the ravine, inhibited by the fact that he had a rocket launcher in one hand. Once it found a foothold, it jumped up to the edge of the chasm, seemingly unscathed from the earlier fall.

The monster took a moment to rest, then yell out the one word that he was able to say before continuing on.

At least, that's what would have happened hadn't a wall of tendrils shot up from the ground, hitting him square in the chin.

Nemesis stumbled back, growled, and turned around to find Equinox staring him down, Ember nowhere to be seen [Equinox told him to hide in the chasm so that nothing bad happened to him during the fight. Reluctant, he finally made his way down.]. "STARS!" Equinox, a bland look on his face, replied without a care, "Call me what you want, you're going to die anyways."

Battle! Equinox Male VS. Nemesis

Music: Nemesis' Theme: Ultimate MvC3

The BOW roared, then ran forward towards Equinox. The alien waited until the monster was right in front of him, then caught him by the hands and began pushing him back. Both beings with a look of determination on their faces - although Equinox's was false - Nemesis broke away and swatted Equinox with the rocket launcher, knocking him back.

Equinox balanced on the edge on the ravine before being blasted off by a rocket. He landed at the bottom, his skin slightly charred, as the monster jumped down to him, ready to slam the launcher through Equinox's chest. The alien rolled, then leaped toward Nemesis and landed a punch to the side of his head. The BOW stumbled, then was rocketed into the side of the ravine by a punch from Equinox.

Slowly, he got up, roaring at Equinox, who was charging towards him, ready for another punch. Nemesis caught his fist, then landed a blow to the alien's midsection, knocking the air out of him. He then headbutted Equinox back as the alien rolled twice before sliding to a stop. He looked up and caught the rocket launcher with his hand, pushing it back before jumping up to combat the monster.

He landed an uppercut, launching Nemesis in the air, and he jumped after him. Nemesis turned around and hit Equinox with the launcher before punching him back to the ground. Equinox landed and coughed up blue blood as Nemesis came down and landed right next to him. The monster came over and grabbed his head, ready to break his neck - or rip it off - until Ember came out of nowhere and knifed Nemesis in the back.

He turned around, facing Ember, then roared as the knife was brought straight through his body as it was pulled back to Ember. With a smirk on his face, and a twirl of his knives, Ember smiled and stated "Now I'm gonna have some fun."

Surprise Battle! Nemesis VS. Ember

Music: Stop Hanging DJs - No More Heroes

Ember jumped over Nemesis as he charged towards the cat. Ember threw a knife down at Nemesis' back again, and it stuck clean. The monster turned around, forgetting the last time, and once again the knife shot through his body. Ember pointed his metal arm at the BOW and fired a shot at him, landing a hit to his chest. Ember caught the knife that was flying toward him and threw both of them at Nemesis' head.

The monster grabbed them and made a faint attempt at a smile before feeling them pulling. The sharp ends of the knives shot through the back of his hands as he roared again, leaving himself open for another shot, which blasted him into a wall. Ember retrieved the knives, then ran up to Nemesis and began repeatedly stabbing him in the chest, ripping the jacket that the monster was wearing.

Nemesis flung Ember off of him as tentacles shot out of his arms and went towards the cat. Ember dodged them, and stuck his knives in the last two. When the tentacles went back to Nemesis, he use the momentum of the pullback to draw himself towards the monster, landing a solid punch to the head. He pulled out his knives and began stabbing Nemesis in the head as Nemesis roared in agony before knocking Ember off and jumping up to escape.

Music End

Ember, with a smile on his face, watched as the monster escaped, dropping the communication unit in the meantime. Equinox got up and walked towards him. "You'd think you fought this kind of thing before." Ember smiled. "Well, there's a psychotic hedgehog going around and transforming everyone. I think I've been well prepared." He picked up the communicator while Equinox talked with his other.

"We didn't kill it, but it ran away. It dropped the communicator in the meanwhile. *pause* Yes, I understand that you wanted us to kill it, but maybe we'd have a better chance of talking to Eclipse if it wasn't dead. *pause again* Alright, we're heading back." Equinox looked to Ember and nodded. "Let's go."

/\

* * *

**And that's chapter 16, guys! Surprised by the short encounter with Ember at the end? Enjoyed the fights all the same? Leave a review saying how you thought of this chapter, and I'll see you back with the Eclipsed in the next chapter!**


	17. Running Out Of Time

**Hello again and welcome back to Through the Darkness! Now, the reasons I didn't update the story last week was because I went to see Pacific Rim (which was an awesome movie, by the way) on Saturday. Therefore, since I had fun last weekend, I've decided to make it up for you - and post 2 chapters of this story today! And now, here's chapter 17 of Through the Darkness!**

* * *

Running Out Of Time

\/

POV: Marx

We had made our way away from the chasm that we encountered that monster at, and we made camp in a cave opening that was located in the side of a mountain. We all took a moment to rest, then began to voice our concerns. I, being the "leader", had first speak. "What in the world was that thing?" Novos, albeit tired from running and using his powers so much, responded angrily. "I have no freaking idea, but even still, if it comes after us again, it's gonna feel the pain!"

Child had been really quiet during the time, so I asked her if she wanted to speak up. She started, then looked down at the floor. "I don't think any of us know what that really was. I think it came from that "Poultrygust" guy." Novos and I both suppressed a laugh. The magic of a child. Our laughter was short lived, however, as Chaos appeared to us. "It appears that this is worse than I originally thought."

Child spoke up again. "So it was that Poultrygust guy, wasn't it?" Chaos chuckled. "Yes, it was Poltergeist who sent Nemesis after you. My question is, however, how did Eclipse get a hold of him?" He shook his head. "Never-mind that. You shouldn't have to worry about him for a while. Dark Gaia told me that Equinox took care of him - for a bit. Either way, you should still be careful. He doesn't go down easily."

And that's when we all noticed the orb that we've been carrying around was glowing. Chaos' "eyes" widened. "There is another core in this cave. It's either that, or..." He stopped there. Novos took that as his cue, and got up, caught his hands on fire as torches, and began to make his way into the cave. I looked at Chaos again and decided to continue his sentence. "Or what? Something bad, I'm guessing." Chaos shook his head again, and he began to speak again. "Either there is a core or Eclipse has gathered about half of the orbs."

That was enough to make my eyes widen too. "Half of them? If that's the case, he works quickly..."

"And if that is the case, you're running out of time, Marx. You can't tell when things could go from bad to worse." At that moment, Novos came back with the orb. "Found it. You guys ready?" We all nodded, and we just set them down next to each other. They both glowed for a bit, then stopped. Chaos sighed. "Then it isn't what I thought... You need to get moving as soon as possible. We can't let Eclipse get a hold of the rest of the cores." We all nodded. Time to get a move on... again.

\/

POV: Swamp

Hey, I'm back again. It's been a while, taking that I've been recovering and all. Anyways, I decided to look around camp a bit, just to see what changed. A few sick people here and there, nothing different... that is, until I heard some shuffling around in Sonic's tent. The reason I found it strange was because he was sleeping. He had said he would be resting for a while only a few minutes ago, so I checked in.

I saw Tails watching Sonic's body, being completely still and holding something in his hand. I was positioned behind him, so I was able to see him step forward and raise his hand - which was holding a knife. I took my chance, wrapped my good arm around his neck, and planted his head into the ground. The noise woke up Sonic, and I could see Tails' body shimmering and revealing a different two-tailed fox in place of the young one. Sonic looked at me, then at him, and he could guess what would have happened if I wasn't there.

"Well that's a problem. Eclipse has begun to send spies. Thankfully, I think I know what we can do with this one..." Only a few minutes later, and us original three recruits for Sonic were standing around a post with the stranger tied to it. Once he woke up, G went over and punched him clean in the jaw. "That was for poisoning me earlier, you little runt. Now tell us why you're here and what you did to Tails!" The fox licked his lip, which was cut a little by the punch, before speaking up. "That's classified information. Sorry to disappoint you."

Then Sonic came over and looked at the assassin. "So tell me. Why did Eclipse send you of all people to kill me when you were the one that was injured by G's little weapons? Wouldn't he have let you rest?" Again, the fox looked at Sonic and chuckled. "Eclipse has better medicines than all of your so-called doctors combined. I was able to get back into the flow in no time." Sonic chuckled, but months of being in a war took its toll on the care-free nature of the hedgehog. "Thankfully, I know exactly what to do with you. All we need to do is wait." He motioned for G, and the komodo took out his guns and smashed the fox's head between the backs.

Sonic looked at me and smiled. "It's about time that we play Eclipse's little game."

\/

POV: Normal

Sonic and his group waited for Eclipse and some guards to come to the base camp. One of Eclipse's guards was dragging Tails on the ground, scratching the fox up. As Sonic scowled, Eclipse stepped in front and began speaking. "Alright, you wanted me, you got me. I have your fox. What are you gonna do to get him back? Pun me to death?" Sonic didn't smile at that. "Sadly, no. I've decided something. Either you give us back Tails or your little friend here..." Some soldiers dragged the post with Dagger attached to it out in front, and G pointed a magnum at his head. "...dies."

It was Eclipse's turn to scowl and put up an ultimatum of his own. "If he dies, then we keep Tails and we destroy every last inch of this base camp. You give him to me, you get Tails. Simple." Sonic's eyes showed that he didn't believe Eclipse's claims. "You give him to us first." Eclipse thought for a bit, sighed, and motioned for the guard to wake up Tails and push him to Eclipse. Eclipse held Tails arms once he got over there, then pushed Tails towards Sonic with his palm.

"Even though you might not agree with the treatment, I gave you what you wanted. Now what I want." Sonic nodded, and G rolled the post over to Eclipse, who proceeded to untie it. Both of the hedgehogs glared at each other until Dagger was released from the pole. The black-and-white hedgehog smirked before tauntingly telling Sonic "Have fun." and left with the "prisoner" and his group.

Dagger rubbed at his arms, then looked at Eclipse. "Why did you free me? I'm just one person, and Tails was more valuable than I am." Eclipse shook his head. "Oh no, he isn't. And besides, I didn't 'free' Tails." He held up the palm that he pushed Tails with, and a little spike was poking out of it. Dagger chuckled as Eclipse continued talking. "You know that I'm the most clever person in this war. Come on now. All we need to do is wait, and everything will come running to us."

\/

POV: Ember

I paced around as the female Equinox was trying to contact Eclipse - with some trouble. "How is it so hard to talk to one person? I mean really, it's only a few buttons..." Sometime afterwards, we all heard a beep, and crowded around the communicator as Eclipse began speaking. "And who do I have the 'pleasure' of speaking with? Oh, that's right - the people that beat up Nemesis."

"So that's what that thing was called, huh? Well, you can at least be glad that we didn't kill it." The hedgehog chuckled at my remark. "Yes, I do have to be happy about that. The virus he has in him is so hard to reproduce without a living specimen... anyhow, what do you wish to speak of?" The female smirked, as if she had won the lotto. "We think we might have some... warriors... that you might like to use."

/\

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Sort of, I guess... anyways, that was Chapter 17, guys! You can expect a second chapter later today, so I will, really, see you guys later!**


	18. The Beginning of the End of the Middle

**Hello everyone, again, and welcome to Through the Darkness! You might be able to tell what's going on in this chapter, so let's just get started, shall we?**

* * *

Surprises and the Beginning of the End of the Middle

\/

POV: Sonic

This is the first time you've heard me talk to you personally. I'm Sonic, but you knew that already. After we had gotten Tails back from the clutches of Eclipse, I helped him up and started trying to talk to him. "Hey bud, you okay? Eclipse get you ripped up by his little minions?" He coughed, then smiled. "If that were the case, I'd be here in pieces. Think about what you say before you say it." I chuckled, one of the first actual signs of happiness I've shown in the war. "Of course you'd say something like that."

He stumbled a bit, trying to get up straight, then looked me in the eye. "You know about Endless Dark Matter already?" I nodded. He sighed. That's usually how some of our conversations went. A topic, I'd nod and he'd sigh about it. "He has 6 cores. It's dangerous work, but you have one, right?" I nodded again. "So that's seven we know about. Ironic, isn't it, that we have to find seven Chaos Emeralds?" I chuckled again. "Yeah. Real irony, isn't it?"

Tails shook his head, as if trying to clear it up, then began to speak to everyone. "Alright, listen up. Eclipse knows where all the cores but the one we have are. If he does figure out we have one, we need to defend it, no matter the cost. We can't let Endless Dark Matter be created again." A wave of agreement went through the soldier group, and they began going through their "normal" lives again.

I looked over at Swamp, and he seemed like he was watching something. I went over and asked what he was looking at, and he just replied that it was nothing. Really, I hope it is. I don't want a fake Swamp walking around everywhere.

\/

POV: Swamp

I waited until sundown, then went out into the camp. I thought I saw a grey figure earlier when Tails was talking, and I wanted to go and investigate. Everyone else was settling down for the night when I finally saw the guy that I was looking for. I went into the shadows as he began to make his way into the camp for something. He was looking around, trying to look for someone - or something - when I jumped out and used my momentum to kick him away from the camp. He got up and began running towards me, but I was getting away from the camp. I didn't want everyone to get up and get on him.

Eventually, we both stopped and looked at each other. He was smiling at me, like I was some joke. "You really think you can fight me in the condition that you're in? How touching. Either way, it's not like it matters. You're going to pay for trying to take me out." It was my turn to smile, and that threw him off. "Hey, just because I'm not in as good a condition as I usually am doesn't mean I can't still kick your butt. Let's do this!"

Fight! No-Face VS. Captain Swamp

Music: Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Schoolboy

I ran over to him, my sword out, as he stood watching me. At the last second he jumped over me, and kicked me in the back of the head. I quickly recovered, and dodged a punch aimed for my face. I ducked underneath a kick and swiped at his leg. It made a small cut, but he was able to dodge the rest of it and run straight to me. I dodged another kick, but he landed an uppercut that launched me in the air.

He jumped after me, and a swung my sword down at him to repel him. It cut his face, and he fell back down. I landed on my feet, but he got up and kicked me in the side to knock me back. He ran over and tried punching me in the face again, but I ducked, tripped him, and kicked him away from me. "You done yet?" Slowly, he began to get up, but didn't run at me again. Suddenly, he looked up at the sky and yelled out as the moon started to come up.

His body began to ripple with muscle as his gloves and shoes tore. The features of his face slowly became less defined until they pretty much disappeared. Although I was expecting something big, that was it, and he ran at me quicker than he used to. I dodged his first punch, but his second hit my side and sent me flying to the side, knocking the breath out of me.

"This is why I'm called No-Face!" I dodged as he planted his fist where my head used to be. Taking my chance, I turned around and started slashing at his back, hoping to weaken him, before he knocked me back with his hand. He planted his fist in the ground again, and thorny tendrils shot out of the ground towards me. I narrowly dodged them all, but once I dodged the last one No-Face landed a punch that shot me up into the air.

I turned around and landed a lucky blow to No-Face, knocking him to the ground. I fell, blade first, to the ground, digging the sword into his shoulder. He roared and struggled to get the blade out of the ground and out of his arm as blood began to come out of the wound. I knocked him out with a blow to the temple, then pulled my sword out of him and blew it off. "I hope we don't EVER play again." At that, I walked back into the camp, ready to rest...

\/

POV: Normal

As the sun began to rise, No-Face slowly woke up to the pain in his shoulder. He sat up, groaning, before hearing something hum behind him. He turned around and saw something poking out of the rock that he had hit Swamp into earlier. Getting up and using his good arm, he dug it out to reveal another core of Endless Dark Matter. Upon seeing this, he laughed. Oh, the luck he could have...

He raised his arm up and reported to Eclipse. "Sir, I have found another core. I'm going to be bringing it in." Chuckling, No-Face grabbed the core and began walking away to return the core to Eclipse. He would be glad. A lot of things were going to happen later, things that the black-and-white hedgehog would be very happy about.

Eclipse was waiting for No-Face outside his spire, a smirk on his face. "Perfect, perfect! Everything is going according to plan. A core found in the morn, two more to be found later and a little surprise for Sonic in the evening. Endless Dark Matter will be back in no time! And this time, Sonic won't be able to stop him... I'll make sure of that." He dismissed No-Face, then began walking around and talking to himself.

"Let's see, at the rate this is going, we'll have 11 cores by the end of tomorrow. There's one that's in the hands of those little brats from Station Square, so that's twelve, leaving 8 more for us to collect! This is going better than I originally expected. Soon, though, I'm going to have to end the competition once and for all!"

\/

POV: Chaos

As I returned to the dark meeting place of the gods, I could only think about how Eclipse had gotten such a monster into Mobius. How could that have happened? Could he have spies in more places than here? (A/N: How come it all ended in a church? Sorry, just had to do that. Kudos to those who know that line.) Eventually, though, I couldn't think, because the eye of Dark Gaia was watching me.

"You realize they are young, Chaos. You can't truly believe that they are the ones to defeat Eclipse and the Equinox, and prevent the recreation of Endless Dark Matter."

"It is our only choice, Dark Gaia. We both know, sadly, that Eclipse could defeat you - with help, of course - as well as I. They are the only ones that he can't truly expect." The eye closed, then opened again. "You are right. The only other choice would be to destroy the world, but that would set things up for Ragnarok to make things perfect for the betrayer."

"I never truly understood why Ragnarok turned to insanity and madness as guides. What caused him to do such a thing?" Again, the eye closed. "I can only believe it had something to do with early humanity. It might have been that the humans were afraid of him and were trying to destroy him, so that's what gave him such a hatred."

"And that's also why there is the other Eclipse." The eye shook, then opened again. "Yes. That is possibly of more harm to this world than Endless Dark Matter. Although Sonic was able to destroy Endless Dark Matter with help, I doubt that even the combined power of all the Super forms could harm the eternal wrath of Eclipse. We can only hope that it does not reveal itself."

\/

POV: Normal

Once again, a group of Eclipsed was sent out into the world to find two more cores of E.D.M., this time at a more forested area. As they cut their way through the thick vegetation, they kept in mind what they were looking for - pieces of the one thing that would make this world perfect for them. Soon, they made their way to the site that Eclipse wanted them to go to - a small pond where the cores were supposedly buried.

The more aquatic-based minions went in as the others kept watch for intruders. Although it seemed quiet, they didn't realize that one by one something was whittling them down until one made a sound. They whipped towards the sound and saw the guard pulled away into the forest. From then, they watched each other and the forest, blades and bombs waiting for a fight.

Suddenly, insect-like beings jumped out of the trees and overwhelmed the guards. Although many of the insects were killed, many guards were taken, and by the time the aquatics got the cores and went back to the surface, there were only 10 guards left. Ordered to run, the aquatic beings made their way out of the forest with the cores, making sure not to drop one on the way out. They had to report to the master about this...

\/

POV: Ember

Another message came in from the communicator, and the female Equinox was the only one that wanted to speak - or listen.

"Yes? What is it? *pause* What? Beings like the ones we sent you? *pause* Killing off your men? We don't know anything about this. Of course we're still in an alliance! *final pause* Okay, fine. If that's what you want as payment, so be it." The comm (That will be my term for communicator, since communicator is a long word to type.) turned off, and she sighed. I went over and asked what happened.

"Apparently, some of our own killed off Eclipse's forces. As payment, he wants us to give us whatever black orbs we have. Why so specific? I don't know. He just was." She went over and took out 2 orbs, then handed them to me. I want you to go and give these to him. I just don't want to see how angry he is." Deciding it was best not to argue, I took them and headed out.

It took me a while to get there. I mean, it wasn't hard to see a giant tower sticking up like a *censored for inappropriate content* (A/N: Dang it, Ember! Now I'm going to have to censor that!) in the middle of a desert, but still. Once I made it there, I just dropped the balls off at the door and decided to leave. Hey, it's not my job to stay at a giant spire and say "Hey, here are the balls you wanted. Anything else?" I shook my head, and muttered things under my breath as I made my way back.

\/

POV: Eclipse

I went outside to see the two orbs on the ground. Although I would have laughed, I didn't do anything but get the cores and go inside. I had lost 58 good men out there, and I wasn't in a mood to be trifled with. As a little recap, though, I decided to go over the day. I got 5 cores today, and combined with the 6 I already have, that's more than half. Perfect. That means that I only really need 6 more - the one from the brats and two from tomorrow not counting.

At least there was something to look forward to. By nightfall tonight, everything should be set into motion - starting with Tails.

\/

POV: Normal (A/N: Geez, this is a long chapter.)

Tails went outside the camp to watch the sunset. He didn't know why. He just felt like doing it. Besides, it's not like anyone cared where he went, as long as it wasn't too far away. What he didn't realize was that G was watching him to make sure that he wasn't another fake. He didn't know it, but he would thank the komodo dragon in the long run for what was about to happen.

As the sun fell and the moon rose, a microscopic being crawled on the ground near Tails. This being had no real use - yet - but it would do something that Eclipse would see as perfect. As going to plan. As success. The thing crawled onto Tails, being so small that the fox didn't notice it moving, until it reached a small hole in the fox's back. Thankfully, it hadn't scabbed over, as a result of what was injected, and it was small enough that the doctors didn't see it.

The being slowly made its way into the hole as it tracked the levels of the serum that Eclipse had injected into him. Following the serum led to Tails' heart, which the being entered and began releasing fluids of its own to activate the serum. Slowly, the creature began to come apart, releasing all of its energy into the serum to activate it - which came as success. Should one have been at the spire in the Eclipsed Lands, one would have heard Eclipse's chuckling as everything came together.

Tails found himself turning his head towards the moon, and he realized just how beautiful it was. Somehow, it had survived the constant showers of meteors, and it left the people that stayed up at night with something to gaze at. However, as Tails was watching the satellite, he didn't notice that his finger began twitching and something was beginning to poke out of the tips of his gloves - before he finally felt his gloves growing tight.

As he looked at his hand, he felt a sudden wave of pain come across him, but he didn't yell out. Something was preventing him from making a sound as he fell to his knees and watched his hand as the glove began to rip at the tips of his fingers as claws began to form. His entire glove tore as black rings formed around his wrist and his hand grew larger. His other hand was soon to follow as the fur on his chest grew longer.

He doubled over as his shoes began to strain at the growth of his feet, his ears growing longer all the same. His shoes eventually tore, revealing that his toes also grew claws on them and became digitigrade. The same black rings on his wrists appeared on his ankles as his legs, arms and back cracked and reformed, locking him in a quadruped position.

Tails was crying from the pain, but he still couldn't make a sound other than some quiet whimpers which slowly grew deeper. His teeth began to grow longer as his mouth elongated slightly. He felt his insides begin to shift as he felt his voice box disappearing to make way for his rapidly changing body. He bent over as his eyes began to change color from sky blue to red as lumps grew near his namesakes, which had also grown longer.

These lumps grew into entirely different tails as Tails felt his capability to understand speech grow fainter. He began to succumb to the more feral thoughts, thoughts of the wild and of destruction. Finally, he let out a silent roar as the rest of his mind grew to the wild, only leaving a small piece for one reason only: for Eclipse to give orders. The transformed Tails bent over, heavily breathing, before hearing a thump behind him and seeing his first target: G.

"Tails, we need to help you. We can't let you-" However, the kitsune growled and leaped toward G, forcing a fight - to the death.

/\

**Wow, that was a long chapter. Anyways, the transformation at the end was actually inspired by a piece of art by Skye-Izumi on DeviantArt. I am not that person, so credit goes to her for the original concept. Anyways, see ya guys next week for the next chapter!**


	19. Vulpex Bestiae Contra Virum

**Welcome once again to Through the Darkness! If you don't remember, last time Tails got a little... 'makeover' shall we say, and it appears that he's not exactly happy about it. Now then, let's get this chapter started, shall we?**

* * *

Vulpex Bestiae Contra Virum: Nine-Tailed Tails VS. The Heroes

\/

POV: Normal

Music: I'll Face Myself - Persona 4

Tails, or rather the beast he became, ran towards G at lightning speeds. The komodo narrowly dodged the first attack, but was blasted into the others' tent, feeling his body crumble in on itself. "Dang it! When did he get so strong?" The others nodded at him, helped him up, and got out their respective weapons. Apparently they were going to have to use force. The kitsune charged at them again, with the group all dodging.

G pulled out his guns and began morphing them into something. "Cover me! This is gonna take a bit..." Swamp nodded and parried a strike from Tails. He went for a swipe at the kitsune's shoulder, but it whipped around and caught Swamp in the side of the head. This blasted him into the camp, where people were beginning to wake up from all the commotion. Alicia went over and started helping him up, but Swamp shooed her off, wanting her to help G.

Just as Tails was about to strike the komodo again, Alicia jumped on his back and began slashing at his head. The beast roared, bringing cries of surprise and worry up from the throats of the soldiers, no fully awake and witnessing what was happening. Tails bucked and launched Alicia off of him, then turned around to face G - instead meeting a rocket to the face. Tails staggered back, then was blasted to the ground by another well-aimed rocket.

By this time, Sonic was coming over to see what was going on, and his eyes widened when he saw his former best friend - and hypothetical brother - fighting the old newbies as some sort of monster. All of a sudden, he was pushed back by Frenzer and Brandi, the two stating that they needed to help. Brandi pulled out her pistols and began firing shots at the kitsune, some of which made their mark. Eventually, though, he began dodging the bullets and racing to Brandi, only to be intercepted by Frenzer beating him back. The kitsune threw him off only to be blasted by another rocket.

Swamp, Alicia, Brandi and Pinky, who was originally only watching but decided to help for once, went over and started slashing at Tails before being launched off by a sudden bucking. The fox, scratched and bleeding, roared at the group of six before beginning to back up uncertainly. Eventually, it got over this uncertainty and ran off, leaving a slight trail of blood.

Music End

Sonic went over and looked at the blood on the ground, a frown on his face. G began making his way over, but Sonic fell to the ground on his knees and slammed it. "Damn it all! Leave it to Eclipse to do something as sneaky as this! The little..." Sonic's fur began darkening, and G started backing away. He had heard about this side of Sonic, but he didn't want to witness it first hand...

"Getting angry, faker?" Suddenly, Sonic turned towards the voice, his fur lightening again. There stood, on the only hill that was near the camp, a black and red figure with slight signs of a smile on his face. A scar went across the left side of his face, and he kept clenching and unclenching his left hand. "Shadow... it's about time you showed up. Where have you been?" The black hedgehog frowned. "Helping GUN in Central City. 'Keeping the peace' and 'calming the citizens'. A bunch of bull if you ask me."

"Either way, what's happened there? Has Eclipse-" Shadow cut off Sonic. "No. Central City won't be here for long, though. From the looks of what just happened, it appears that Eclipse is ready to move out and conquer. Either way, I need to let you know that we have 2 cores of Endless Dark Matter." Sonic smiled. "Good. So that's three away from-"

"Sonic! The core is gone!" The crowd gasped as the hedgehog whipped around to the soldier. "What!? How could that have happened? It was safe in the tent!" Sonic then looked over to the place where Tails transformed and saw the machine from earlier, which had grown after being ejected from Tails' body. "Of course it was one of those things..."

Swamp stepped forward. "One of what things? You know about it?" Sonic looked it over before speaking. "Originally, these were made by Eggman. He'd injure us somehow, leaving a wound that it could crawl into, then whenever we changed into our Super forms Egghead would harness the energy. Ingenious, but it was one time only. Sadly, that one time was the point at which he gave Eclipse all the power he needed to start this entire dang war."

The blue blur looked over at Shadow. "If he is planning an attack, you need to warn the GUN soldiers at Central City. Heck, you need to warn GUN soldiers everywhere. We'll all help to keep the city away from Eclipse's clutches. Then, when the time is right..." Sonic looked at the ground again.

"I'm gonna settle this once and for all."

\/

Ember was flipping a coin when the communicator turned on. He looked around, as Equinox - both of them - were busy doing something. He went over, picked it up and sat down in a little chair that was left over. He saw Eclipse sitting on some sort of throne, petting... what was that? "Ember, so nice to see you. I have a very important job for you, so listen carefully." Eclipse paused, and Ember thought he saw some sort of slyness in Eclipse's eyes.

"Now hear this. I'm planning an attack on Central City. All my forces are getting ready. I, on the other hand, am going to stay back here. Therefore, YOU are going to bring some of those little creepies you have to help with the attack." Ember nodded. "Alright. Let me just tell Equinox-" Eclipse held up his hand. "Oh, no no no no. Don't tell them. I've figured out something very interesting about those two."

Curious, Ember beckoned him to continue. "Now, a friend of mine from another world - the same world that supplied me with Nemesis - told me that he had been seeing those little pod thingies around. They weren't human. And they certainly didn't look like anything from my world. Some of my other 'friends' reported the same thing, so I sent out a little space probe. Turns out that they aren't human NOR Mobian. They're aliens."

"Not just any aliens, though. They want this entire world to themselves. They're lying about joining with me. They're lying about helping you. Once this is all over, they're going to come on, toss me aside, turn YOU into one of those things and eat this world for breakfast. So remember. I'll contact YOU personally when it's time. If the Equinox are there with you, I'm going to say this - The Eclipsed are recovering from some battles. That's your cue. Got it?"

Upon hearing all this, Ember thought. If they really were aliens that he was working for, and what Eclipse said was true, he was working with an untrustworthy client. If Eclipse was lying, though, then Equinox would kill him for leaving them behind. "How do I know you're not lying?" Eclipse closed his eyes, then opened them again. "Do you know who gave me Nemesis?" Ember got a questioning look on his face. "No. Who?"

"Albert Wesker." The cat's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. "Yeah, I got it. Whatever you say." The hedgehog laughed and looked at Ember again. "Good. Once everything is said and done, I'll find you a good position in my army. Good choice." The communicator turned off, and Ember put it on the floor where it used to be. This week was going to be a busy one...

/\

* * *

**And that was chapter 19, baby! We might actually be getting somewhere now! Anyways, that was another chapter, and as always, leave a review, favorite it, do whatever people on this site do, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**

**Note: This chapter was actually not in my head when I wrote it. Unlike others, when I have a faint idea, this was completely winging it. Hooray for innovation!**


	20. Preparations

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Through the Darkness Chapter 20! After thinking slightly, this story is going to be roughly 40 chapters long, with some surprises at the end for you. Now then, let's get started!**

* * *

Preparations

\/

POV: Sonic

It took a couple of hours to get everything packed up to move out for Central City, and even then that was a few miles away. I could sprint there in no time, but I didn't want to leave the soldiers in the dust so I just walked with them. The entire time we were moving, Shadow was contacting every GUN squad he could and telling them that, at the best time, to move in to Central City.

I, on the other hand, was thinking about Tails and Eclipse. The psycho. He's gonna pay for doing what he did to Tails. What did he think this all was, a JOKE? Some sort of game that he was playing, or some story that he's sure about winning? I mean heck, how did he know about the core in our camp? Either way, as soon as everyone in Central City can hold off Eclipse's forces, I'm going straight for the head of the snake.

Finally, after what felt like forever, we made it to Central City. It was in a better shape than Station Square, but still breaking apart from the force of the attacks on the Eclipsed. Everybody took a slight rest as I paced around, waiting for Shadow to come back. Finally, he went out of the GUN HQ and started actually speaking to me. "The commander tells me that there were 3 battles here before we came. They were able to hold all of them back, but the last one cost them a core."

"Therefore, by the calculations, that would mean 13 cores. One from your camp, one from here. If he gets this one, it's 14, unless he finds more in the meanwhile." "So how do you know that they have that much?" Shadow looked me in the eye. "We sent a couple of spies into the spire. They constantly reported back with increasing numbers - until we 'mysteriously' lost contact with them."

I looked around at all the people in the streets and in their houses. I could see obvious fear in their eyes - fear of Eclipse and fear of his monsters. We needed to stop him from getting all the pieces of Endless Dark Matter - no matter the cost. I looked back at Swamp, G, Frenzer, all of them. It was good having them all with me - but it was time for me to tell them my plan. I went over and started speaking.

"We should have enough soldiers to hold off one more attack from the Eclipsed. However, I need to tell you my plan. After the fight gets underway, I'm gonna-" "Going to go face Eclipse. Right. That's fine." I looked at G, the one who interrupted me. "I need you to stay back here and help GUN. With your help, that will give us 6 or so more fighters for justice. No matter what happens, always stay with GUN. Okay?" Everyone nodded their agreement, and I turned back around.

Now, I just needed to wait.

\/

POV: Eclipse

Now, before I begin talking about my "preparations", you might be thinking "OMG WESKER WAT" right now. Let me explain real quick. You should already know about my capability to create things from other worlds here, right? I can also GO to those worlds and speak with the inhabitants. Before the whole "Everybody come and help" thing, I went over to Wesker Land - note, I'm calling it that because there are way too many "Earth"s - and spoke with him a bit.

After... negotiating a little... we came on an agreement to help each other "fight for the greater good". In exchange for me sending my forces over there, he gave me Nemesis and some of his more successful viruses. Uroboros and stuff like that. Also, if you're wondering how he survived that volcano - He's Wesker. And he was hopped up on Uroboros. Okay, he was shot through the head with a rocket launcher, but STILL. Our talk was AFTER I received his body from the lava and... eh, healed it, you could say.

Anyways, it took a while to get every single force I could find in one place. Then, I began quite the motivating speech. "My prized Eclipsed soldiers! The time has finally come to take this world for ourselves. Just as we had hoped, Sonic had fallen into our perfect trap to go to Central City! We will do what he expects, first, and he will come after me, and then..."

A smirk grew on my face. "Then we release the trap and swarm them all. We get the core, steal some humans, kill others, and overall wreak havoc! And all the while..." I looked down at my 'little' pet that I got a day or so ago. "Sonic's going to be stuck here, having fun with me. Now then, who is ready to end this war?!" A roar went out across the land as my creations cried out in agreement. They began charging to that pathetic city, and I looked at the two Mobians and 1 robot next to me.

"Go with them. They'll need you." They nodded and jumped down to join the forces, and I made my way into the spire once again, followed by my pet. I reached down with my hand and it rubbed up against it, granting me a point to smile. "Oh, how Sonic is going to hate what I have in store for him! Isn't that right, Tails?" The kitsune let out a small purr of agreement, and I looked up to where Sonic would have to fight me once again.

\/

POV: Normal

Ember was pacing around as Equinox was/were just normally planning as the communicator turned on once again. Ember went over as Eclipse's face turned on, and it was obvious that he was high in the air as the clouds could be seen below him. "I see that you are all here. Good. I just wanted to report that 'the Eclipsed are recovering from some battles' that happened recently."

"Oh, and we weren't invited?" Eclipse chuckled at the female's foolish attempt to seduce him. "No, sadly. It happened so suddenly I hadn't time to think. This was just an informing, though. Nothing overly important." The communicator turned off, and Equinox went off into the other room to begin their planning. Ember grabbed the communicator and sneaked outside to gather some of the alien beings. He began making his way toward Central City when he contacted Eclipse again.

Seeing that Ember was alone, not counting the beasts behind him, Eclipse smiled. "Good. You're on your way. You need to come in from the south of the GUN HQ. My forces are coming in from the north, and we're going to sandwich them between us. Got it?" Ember tilted his head, mockingly thinking, before looking at Eclipse again. "As always." He turned off the communicator and exited Station Square. Time to get a move on.

\/

POV: Chaos

Dark Gaia appeared to me again, seeming quite worried. "Eclipse found out about Equinox. He's sending their cat to the battle site to ambush the human forces." I tilted my head down, and decided that what I was thinking was the only thing to do. "There are two other beings connected to Eclipse with varying degrees of success rates against him. The first is the Time Eater, but he is docile and isn't too much of a threat."

"So who are you thinking, Chaos?" I only needed to look at Dark Gaia and he got the picture in an instant. "Chaos, no. We can't let IT wreak havoc on the world again! Who knows if it will join with Eclipse and destroy the world for him?! It will not be allowed to be brought to this world." I could tell how reluctant he was, but I needed him to see reason. "You said yourself that they are too young to beat Eclipse. And besides, Eclipse has already sent his beasts after them too."

After a minute or so, Dark Gaia sighed. "If it must be. Then it will be done. We will come into Mobius with our power at full, and we will eliminate all who stand in our path. Once Eclipse is gone, we will deal with Equinox. There will be you and I, as my perfect self..."

"And as a result of the dire times, Solaris will be present with us."

\/

I appeared in front of the trio who I had been leading this entire time. They looked at me expectantly, hoping for answers to what they needed to do. I only had two things to say to them, so I decided to say it now. "First off, it has been found that all of the forces are gathering at Central City for one more fight. You will need to, in the chaos, invade the Eclipsed Spire and destroy the cores of Endless Dark Matter that Eclipse has collected."

"Second off, however, is why I am not sending you to Central City. Dark Gaia and I have decided to strike at the war ourselves, and we plan to eradicate the war no matter the cost. Therefore, we are to destroy Central City and its inhabitants. This will end the war, but also cost many lives. However, it must be done for the greater good. You must understand that."

The group looked at the ground, and nodded at me. They knew what they needed to do, so they would do it. "This is the last time that I will see you three. Good luck. You will need it."

And as soon as I appeared, I was gone.

\/

POV: Normal

Three entities stood in a room together. One was black and of crystalline nature. No mouth could be seen upon his face, but it could still be said that this being was malicious. Many thought it was of the dark energy radiating from him. Many others thought it was because of this lack of a body part - yet still having a voice - that made him seem like this.

The second was a dark red-brown creature that seemed as if it were glowing. It was mixing a tank of an extremely hot liquid, apparently not bothered by it. No one normal had ever seen this creature in this form before, as they only knew an apocalyptic monster capable of flooding entire cities with the earth's "juices", magma and lava. The eyes of the figure were bright green, with extreme hatred being seen as the fire in its eyes.

The last being was one connected by tendrils to a large dragon-like eye floating behind it. The figure itself was black and white, and the white parts of it seemed to be radiating light. The eye had a grey iris and was unblinking. Everybody in the world knew the figure as the one who had started the entire war, but no one remembered the first two beings - except Eclipse.

"You understand, now, what we can do together. It matters not if Chaos and Dark Gaia seek to destroy you. I am here, and you are here, and we will destroy all in our path!" The crystal being pondered, and replied "Perhaps, Ragnarok, but do you realize that you are meddling with both the God of Destruction and the God of the night? Perhaps you did not notice this."

Eclipse laughed and replied slyly. "And yet you two are the God of the Sun and I am the God of Change and Transformation. Surely you can't be afraid of them now? And besides, YOU are the only one to kill the blue blur. You will have no trouble killing your own kin." The first figure looked down and nodded. The second roared and went over to the first as Eclipse began speaking again.

"Speaking of your kin, they will be looking for you. I hope that everything goes perfectly." As soon as the first two disappeared, Eclipse went back to the top of his spire. Now, to only wait for Sonic...

/\

* * *

**Sneaky Eclipse is being sneaky! That was chapter 20, guys! As usual, drop a review and do whatever you do, and I'll see ya in the next chapter!**


	21. The Onslaught

**Hello and welcome back to Through the Darkness! Now, as you know, Eclipse was being a real sneaky guy, and now he has Solaris on his side without Dark Gaia and Chaos knowing! And worse than that, they are going to be attacking Central City - where everyone is going for a battle. However, before I start, I need to address something that's really been getting on my nerves.**

**Bearvalley3365: I understand you want your character in the story. But 6 chapters ago, I specifically stated in my author's note that I wouldn't be having any more characters. Even still, you've COMPLETELY ignored it and kept pestering me in the review box in this story. Second off, NO, I will not be putting your OCs in every single one of my stories. Not all of them are going to be completely OC based, and I doubt that after this, your characters are going to make it into any of my stories for a while.**

**Now that that's over with, let's get to the actual chapter, shall we?**

* * *

The Onslaught Begins

\/

POV: Sonic

Everyone in the city was either locked into their homes, terrified of what was coming, or out helping GUN prepare. I just went around offering moral support, but they weren't getting as pumped as they used to be. The war affected me not only physically, but mentally, as I had noticed many times before. I wasn't the carefree, cocky hedgehog that everyone knew, and I wasn't COMPLETELY the hero of Mobius.

There was still the long-standing threat of Eclipse, who's been around for 2 years now - today is his little anniversary, coincidentally. "Sad" that he's gonna get his pretty little behind handed to him 10 times over once I'm done with him. I knew that GUN needed me to help them fight. I understood that. But once the first little wave is over, and they've gotten the hang of it, I'm outta here to go straight for Eclipse.

"You've been surprisingly quiet, Faker." I turned around to see Shadow walking towards me, the scar on his face prominent. "Where exactly did you get that ugly little thing, Shads?" The so-called Ultimate Life-form chuckled before answering me. "Got in a fight with one of Eclipse's Hunters. Scratched me up, cut my face open, but at least it didn't tear me apart like it did with other soldiers that were there."

I nodded. Leave it to Shadow to survive the one thing that killed off everyone else. Suddenly, his face grew serious as he began questioning me. "Are you seriously thinking of leaving everyone behind to fight Eclipse yourself? You know that you're going to be outnumbered." I nodded. "I get it, Shads. Even still, I'm the only one here capable of destroying Eclipse, and you know it."

He lowered his head and sighed. "Fine. Just don't get yourself killed, Faker." He began walking away after that. "He wouldn't kill me, Shads. You know that." After he left, I turned my head toward the sound of footsteps and jumped up. Apparently, they were here. I ran around and began warning everyone, getting them ready for the carnage to come. In these sorts of situations, there's only one thing to do: Kill or be killed.

\/

POV: Marx

It's been a while since I've talked to you directly, hasn't it? Anyways, after the warning from Chaos, we started heading towards the Eclipsed Lands. It was easy to tell where they were, since it literally went from grassy plains and trees to a grey slate. We saw some Eclipsed forces heading away from us, but we still hid to avoid being seen. We couldn't stop now, not after all we've been through.

Finally, when the cost was clear, we began moving. The spire was easy to see in the distance - it was just miles away. We wasted no time, took no time to rest unless we absolutely needed to, and slowly we made our way to the giant tower. It stood only a couple of yards away until something dropped from the sky and kicked up a dust cloud. It was still breathing, and I could tell we got a visit from someone we hadn't seen in a while.

"STARS!" A tentacle suddenly shot out towards me as I dodged out of the way, the dust clearing and revealing the monster from before: Nemesis. Albeit, he seemed quite a bit more roughed up, a ton of holes in him and all, but he was still recognizable. I smirked and realized this was our chance. "Alright, you big hunk of infected meat, it's time for you to get what you deserve!"

The Last Battle! Nemesis VS Novos and Marx

(Quick A/N: No, this isn't the last fight of the story, this is just the last fight involving Nemesis. No worries!)

Music: Psycho Soldier - No More Heroes 2

The beast sent more tendrils toward Novos, but he dodged out of the way and began blasting Nemesis with his fire. Although it wasn't overly affected, the monster was notably weaker than it was before. I ran towards it and began hacking at it with my claws, ripping out chunks of its flesh. It threw me aside and began charging to Novos, who dodged out of the way just in time to send a large blast hurtling towards the creature. Nemesis turned too late, and was blasted on his back, singed and blackened.

Novos jumped on the monster and began whaling on him, charring and burning off the skin of the monster. It threw him off as well, but I jumped on its back and dug my claws straight into its eyes. Nemesis roared and began trying to fling me off, but I drove him straight towards Novos, who landed a punch to the thing's gut and knocked it down with an uppercut. He looked at me, and I nodded. I ran back and jumped as Novos let off a large explosion that scorched the already barren landscape.

Finally, once the smoke settled, there stood Novos, standing in front of a charred hunk of meat with little tidbits on fire around it. Nemesis was no more. I let out a sigh, then got back into position. "Alright, guys, now that that thing is gone, there's nothing left between us and the tower. Let's show Eclipse that we're not to be fooled with!" The other two nodded, and we began walking again to the spire of the Eclipsed.

I looked off to my right and saw a large wave of water flowing into Central City. Chaos must be beginning to attack there. May the gods have mercy on their souls.

\/

POV: Normal

A few moments before...

Finally, the first signs of the Eclipsed made their way into Central City. A roar went through the streets as the creatures charged towards the soldiers, who had already begun to open fire. The GUN forces were split into 4 groups: A central, a western, an eastern and a small southern force in case of a sudden strike from there. The central force was, of course, the largest group, and was holding off the Eclipsed fairly well. There was a small group here or there that came eastern or western, but otherwise nothing much.

After snapping a couple more necks, a high-ranking soldier came over to Sonic. "Sonic, we're holding them off nicely. Now's your chance." The blue blur nodded and raced through the Eclipsed forces, taking out some on the way. The fastest thing alive kept looking forward as he made his way to the final arena: The Eclipsed Spire. However, he didn't notice the somewhat small machination in the air, carrying 6 glowing orbs in its arms.

The machine flew into the midst of the GUN base, sent out some explosives, crashed purposefully into a soldier who was guarding the Endless Dark Matter core, and grabbed it in its hands. It sent a small radio signal back to the Eclipsed spire and began flying there, all the while having a small timer on it, slowly counting down.

5...

GUN soldiers were falling, but less often than they were at the first attack. They were holding off the Eclipsed quite well. However, they didn't notice the sound of rushing water beneath their feet.

4...

Suddenly, a frantic call went out from the southern group. "More monsters! ...killing...surprise...send assistance!" A small portion of each group went off to the southern grouping to assist them.

3...

Air-crafts began coming in and launching anti-virus bombs to clear out the Eclipsed forces. Although they were doing work, they weren't as effective as normal bombs, but less destructive.

2...

The aircraft pilots saw a large wave of water coming in from a nearby river and contacted the land base. "There is an unusually large wave of water coming towards the city! You must evacuate!"

1...

"No! We need to protect the core at all costs! It doesn't matter if we all die, we just need to keep the Eclipsed from getting that core at all costs!" The GUN commander turned to where the core was, only to see the guard knocked out and the core nowhere to be found. He dropped his communicator and cried out at the heavens, as if they were mocking him and they had all the answers.

0.

The bombs exploded, killing the commander and all soldiers nearby. The Eclipsed suddenly surged and began to overtake the remaining soldiers as the alien-like creatures flooded in from the south. Hurtled bombs took out the air-crafts, sending them down into the chaotic streets below. Water began breaking through the street and flooding the entire city as the wave finally crashed into the city at full force.

Soon, after all the water drained away, there was only carnage. Bodies everywhere, buildings in a complete wreck, every notable thing about the city destroyed. GUN was no more.

\/

POV: G

I woke up coughing up some sort of liquid. Not wanting to open my eyes, I slowly woke up to a pitch-black sky. I couldn't remember much. All I recalled was fighting the Eclipsed, an explosion, and a crashing sound... Suddenly, I sat up remembering what had happened. I looked behind me to see what was left of Central City. I could also see the bodies of my friends - alive, but barely.

I noticed that there weren't any Eclipsed corpses to be seen. No monsters of any kind, which was strange since we were all affected. I stood up and went over to Swamp, gently nudging him awake. He coughed up some water, then opened his eyes. "We royally screwed up, didn't we?" I nodded. How could that have all happened so suddenly? Eclipse couldn't have planned all that...

Remembering Eclipse, I realized what that meant. "Sonic has no idea. He's going up to Eclipse's spire, not even knowing that every single GUN member is dead - except maybe Shadow - and there are a ton of reinforcements coming." Swamp sat up at that and said exactly what I was thinking. "We need to go there. We need to stop Eclipse ourselves." I went over, woke up Alicia, and went through the same process with her.

I looked back, seeing all the bodies: Frenzer, who was probably killed by the force of it, Brandy, Pinky, a random grey fox with metal arms, tons of weird insect things. All of this was because of Eclipse. We needed to end this. I looked towards the spire, knowing that Eclipse had home-court, knowing that Eclipse was in better shape than us and knowing that we needed to end him.

My thoughts were cut short when I saw a blob of water on the ground.

\/

POV: ?

"Finally... all the pieces are in place. Sonic... Eclipse... Equinox... those so-called recruits... everything is perfect. Soon, very soon, I will begin my reign of terror. All I need to do now is wait... Wait for Sonic and Eclipse to fight. Wait for Sonic to fall. Wait for the brats to fight. Wait for them to almost defeat Eclipse. Wait for Endless Dark Matter. And wait for the grand finale..."

A laugh. A white and black space. And a single, dragon-like eye, simply waiting.

/\

* * *

**Well wasn't that unexpected. Also, this story might be shorter than I thought it would be. Oh well! Anyways, do what you do, and I'll see ya in the next chapter!**


	22. Triple Triple Threat

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Through the Darkness! The rest of the story will probably be fighting and all, so let's start out this "boss rush" of sorts with a 3 on 3 on 3 battle! Hope you enjoy! Quad exclamation marks!**

* * *

Triple Triple Threat

\/

POV: G

It took a lot longer than usual to get to the spire - or at least, that's what Swamp said. It might have been the fact that 1. we were just hit by a tidal wave and 2. we were just being overwhelmed by a ton of soldiers. We actually had a lot to talk about on the way there, including Alicia wanting to help out in the big finale. We couldn't just let her sit out through the entire war, and she had weapons, so she had reason to say it.

Once we got to the entrance, we looked up and saw black clouds above us. Not natural black clouds, though. There wasn't any rain going on. Heck, there wasn't anything going on. This place was just as barren as the rest of the Eclipsed Lands. That's when I noticed that the door was open. I pointed it out to Swamp, and he chuckled a bit. "It's as if he was expecting someone - or some people."

We made our way in and were immediately greeted by, oh, 10 or so Eclipsed forces. We just cut right through them, but the more we cut through, the more that were coming. After blasting my 10th grunt, I yelled over at Alicia. "You see anything over there?" I could faintly see her nodding her head through all the fighting, so I began making my way over to her.

Swamp was batting people around with a chunk of metal that he tore off of a wall as he made his way over. We formed a slight circle around the central staircase, then began running up the stairs. Surprisingly, though, they weren't following. Sign 2 that Eclipse was expecting us. Of course. We made it up to the 2nd floor, with no one to greet us. We saw multiple hallways branching out from our location, with grand yet normal-sized doors going into rooms, most likely.

Suddenly, we heard a voice, not one that I recognized, but one all the same. "Damn it!"

And that was followed by a voice I did know, the voice that poisoned me quite a while ago. Instinctively, I raised one of my guns as claws went directly for my head. I pushed back and came face to face with the one person I've been wanting revenge on. "Dagger!"

\/

POV: Marx

We had made our way through the spire quite nicely. It was working out fine. However, once we found the door on the second floor we were wanting - the one that had the E.D.M. cores - we had gone in and I realized 2 things. 1. The cores were nowhere to be seen. 2. As I was trying to get our core, it turns out that it was gone. Having found these things out, I dropped to my knees and slammed my fists into the ground. "Damn it!"

Suddenly, I heard another voice, and we raced out to see a komodo and a red fox trying to strike at each other. The two raced upstairs, each of them followed by a certain group of people, and we followed behind them. Having come up, we leaped to the side as we dodged away from a gunshot. And here we were. Us, working with Chaos. The komodo's group and the fox's group, most likely working against each other. The fox and the komodo ran at each other again, and I raced up and scratched at them both.

At the same time, Novos batted back a bat and a green fox and got in between them. That only left Child, a wolf with wings and some robot thing. We were all in opposing groups of three and about to fight - until we were put apart by walls of light. There were walls separating our groups and each other as a voice began speaking.

"Oh, what fun this will be! Sonic hasn't made it through my traps yet, so I might as well watch this all go down as entertainment. Now then... let the games begin."

\/

POV: Normal

Triple Threat! Mar Dagger

Music: Blitzful Vengeance: No More Heroes 2

The first walls of light went down, and both G and Dagger ran for Marx first, seeing him as an annoyance. Marx ducked under the fox's claws, and jumped over a blast from G as he vaulted off of Dagger's head and kicked G in the face, downing him. The cat turned around and dodged a swipe from Dagger as he landed his own cut to Dagger's stomach. He then flipped back away from a shot as G fired a rocket at Marx.

Dagger was blasted back into a wall as Marx ran up to G and began dodging strikes from the butts of the guns. Marx slashed at G and kicked him away, giving G time to morph his guns into a shotgun. As Marx began running at G again, the komodo dragon pulled up the gun and blasted the cat away. He then turned his attention to Dagger, who began running at him.

He turned around too slow and cut a very small cut in his stomach. G fired his shotgun, blasting Dagger back and giving him time to check on his wound. It was burning from Dagger's poison, but it was only very slight. He noticed too late that Marx was standing up, and the cat jumped on his back and began scratching at his face. Blinded, G began idly wandering around - and went straight to Dagger.

Dagger swung at G and got a scratch in on his right arm, prompting G to drop his guns. Dagger then jumped towards Marx and scratched at him as well before throwing him down. The cat got up and began dodging strikes from Dagger, which was hard since he was slightly bleeding out from the shotgun from earlier. He dove for the dropped guns and began firing at the fox, who was somewhat dodging the bullets.

As soon as Dagger made his way there, Marx sank his claws into Dagger's arm and threw him against the wall. Suddenly, the cat was punched away by G as the komodo dragon picked up his guns and morphed them into sub-machine guns. "As they say, spray and pray." G began firing the guns in the general direction of the mammals, then stopped firing and hit them in the temples with the butts of the guns, knocking them out.

\/

Triple Threat #2! Swamp v Marcus v Novos

Music: Egg Emperor - Sonic Heroes

The second walls went down, and Novos immediately began blasting at both Swamp and Marcus with fireballs. The fox and bat dodged, and Swamp pulled a chunk of metal out of the wall and slammed Novos into the wall of light with it, trapping him temporarily. Swamp then turned his attention to Marcus, who began shooting spikes of Chaos energy at the fox.

Swamp dodged two, but the third caught him in the shoulder and pinned him to the back wall as Novos blasted out of the rubble and ran for Marcus, catching him with a flaming fist to the gut. The bat doubled over as Novos went behind him and blasted him into his own spike before being punched by Swamp. The fox pulled out the spike and dodged another blast from Novos as he pulled out his cutlass and charged at the fiery being.

Novos pulled out his own sword and the two clashed in the middle before pushing apart and slashing at each other. Swamp noticed that the hilt of Novos' sword was made of metal, and waited for him to do a strike to the head to pull it out of his grasp and beat him back with it. Swamp spun around and caught Marcus in the shoulder with Novas' sword. Just to make sure, Swamp took his cutlass and sent it through Marcus' left wing, prompting a scream that sent everyone to cover their ears.

Swamp reached up and slammed Marcus back as Novos got up and charged towards the fox, therefore ramming him down. Novos picked up his sword and caught it on fire before beginning to slash at Swamp. Swamp ducked under a swing and tripped Novos, therefore prompting the fox to kick the back of his head. After knocking Novos out, he turned around to narrowly dodge a wild punch from Marcus.

Swamp then swept the bat's feet out from under him and, unable to fly, Marcus landed on his bad wing. Crying out, he was soon silenced by a well aimed kick to the temple from Swamp.

\/

Triple Threat #3! Alicia v Child v Dread

Music: Vs. Character - Sonic the Hedgehog 2006

The final walls fell, and Dread immediately shot lightning bolts out of his hands to try and zap the two girls. Child avoided the bolt of lighting and ran up to the robot to begin stabbing at the makeshift metal armor. Alicia, on the other hand, was pushed back by the bolt of lightning. Dread grabbed Child in a telekinetic grip, but let go when Alicia plunged her sword of light into Dread's arm.

Child dropped to the ground, rolled and got up away from Dread as he sent another bolt of lightning at Alicia, who was blasted back once again. Child ran up and stabbed the robot straight in the middle of the face, then twisted around and stuck the second dagger in his back before being shook off by a sudden jerk of the robot's body. Dread turned to Child, but left his back open for Alicia's sword to go straight through it.

The robot fell with sparks emitting from the hole in its back, and then only Alicia and Child were left. Child raced towards Alicia, but the wolf beat her back with her sword. Alicia went for an overhead strike, but Child dodged out of the way, grabbed a dagger from the robot, and plunged it into Alicia's side. Alicia doubled over from the sudden pain, allowing Child to get the other dagger and try stabbing her in the face.

Alicia grabbed Child's dagger hand and pulled the dagger out of her side with the other hand. Child was struggling to keep pushing forward as Alicia stood up and began leaning forward with the hand wielding the dagger. Child grabbed that hand, and then it was a struggle over who would land the blow first. Although Child was being overwhelmed, at the last second she slid under Alicia and wrenched her hand out of the wolf's grasp.

Child jumped up and brought the dagger down on Alicia's back, but the wolf spun and kicked Child in the side, pushing her away. Alicia ran over to Child, got on top of her, and slammed her head into the ground, knocking her out cold.

\/

Music End

The other walls of light disappeared as the heroes regrouped. Alicia worked on tending the other two's wounds as Eclipse's voice came back. "Now, that was fun. Anyways, I can hear Sonic drawing near. Let's just do this..." Walls of light began appearing, surrounding the room, and a video of Eclipse slowly faded into view. "That's better. Have fun watching your hero suffer."

The camera flew into the air and rested floating away from the platform so you could see the entire top of the spire. Once G and Swamp were patched up, the komodo spoke. "We have to go. Help Sonic before he is killed... or worse." They all nodded and began making their way to the top of the spire, where Eclipse waited...

/\

**And after tons of fighting, that was the 22nd chapter, everyone! Hope you enjoyed, and see ya in the next one!**


End file.
